Dako, an Agilent Technologies Company  and a worldwide provider of cancer diagnostics, and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Ono) announced a new partnership to develop a potential diagnostic test specifically for use with Opdivo in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This test is being investigated for its diagnostic utility to determine which patients are most likely to respond to Opdivo.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, and is responsible for more than 1.5 million deaths per year1. The demand for personalized medicine continues to increase as it may provide a way to both improve patient care and better manage health care costs by targeting treatment to the individuals most likely to benefit from it.

"We are pleased to be chosen as Ono’s partner for the development of a companion diagnostic test for this promising drug. Today’s announcement follows several other collaborative agreements in the companion diagnostics area by Agilent’s Dako business," said Jacob Thaysen, president of Agilent's Diagnostics and Genomics Group.

"We are delighted to collaborate with Dako, a global leader in diagnostics, and this partnership contributes to value maximization of Opdivo," said Gyo Sagara, president, representative director and CEO, ONO.

The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Cancer cells may exploit "regulatory" pathways, such as checkpoint pathways, to hide from the immune system and shield the tumor from immune attack. Opdivo is an investigational PD-1 (programmed cell death-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1 expressed on activated T-cells. On July 4, 2014, Ono announced that Opdivo received manufacturing and marketing approval in Japan for the treatment of patients with unresectable melanoma, and sales of Opdivo started in Japan on Sept. 2, 2014. Opdivo is the world’s first approved and launched immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting PD-1.

In 2011, through a collaboration agreement with Ono, Bristol-Myers Squibb expanded its territorial rights to develop and commercialize Opdivo globally except in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where Ono had retained all rights to the compound at the time. On July 23, 2014, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical further expanded the companies’ strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies – as single agents and combination regimens – for patients with cancer in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Ono Pharmaceutical, headquartered in Osaka, Japan, is an R&D-oriented pharmaceutical company committed to creating innovative medicines that meet unmet medical needs at the frontline of healthcare, focusing especially on the areas of diabetes and oncology.

Agilent Technologies Inc., a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets, is the premier laboratory partner for a better world.