NEW YORK – Quest Diagnostics and Agilent Technologies said Monday they inked a deal for Quest to offer Agilent's liquid biopsy test to guide non-small cell lung cancer treatment.
The agreement gives Quest's customers access to Agilent's Resolution ctDx FIRST next-generation sequencing-based companion diagnostic to determine which patients are likely to benefit from Mirati Therapeutics' Krazati (adagrasib), which is used to treat adults with KRAS G12C-mutated locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Agilent secured US Food and Drug Administration approval in December for ctDx FIRST to be used to help guide treatment with Krazati, which was simultaneously approved by the FDA. The assay detects genomic alterations in circulating tumor DNA from plasma and profiles 109 genes with single nucleotide variants, insertions and deletions, copy number amplifications, and fusions. The test is also approved for epidermal growth factor receptor gene-based tumor profiling in NSCLC patients.
Kristie Dolan, VP and general manager of Quest's oncology franchise, said in a statement that adding the ctDx FIRST test to Quest's oncology menu extends access to important medical innovations that could improve patient outcomes. Healthcare providers will be able to order the test through Quest's electronic health record platform, and patients can provide samples at the company's 2,100 service centers in the US.
Paul Beresford, VP and general manager of Agilent's companion diagnostics division, noted in a statement that the deal expands testing options for NSCLC patients who "don't always have tissue available for molecular analysis."
Qiagen's tissue-based Therascreen KRAS RGQ PCR kit was also approved at the same time as a companion diagnostic for Krazati.