Trovagene, University of Michigan Announce Collaboration
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Trovagene, Inc. has announced the initiation of a multi-phased collaborative research program with the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center utilizing the Trovera™ KRAS ctDNA liquid biopsy test. Pancreatic cancer is now the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S. with an 8% relative 5-year survival rate. At present, surgery offers the only therapeutic means of cure; however, less than 20% of patients are eligible for surgery as a result of diagnosing the disease too late.
Experts widely agree that pancreatic cancer is in desperate need of new molecular tools that allow physicians to detect pancreatic cancer earlier and quickly evaluate the efficacy of surgery and therapies. Further, a technology used to detect pancreatic cancer earlier could provide a tremendous benefit to patients by enabling surgery which would otherwise not be possible for late stage disease.
"KRAS gene mutations occur in over 90% of pancreatic carcinomas. There is an urgent need for targeted therapies and a precision diagnostic test to identify who would benefit from these therapies," said Diane Simeone, M.D., director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and an internationally recognized expert in the field of pancreatic cancer.
"As part of this research collaboration, Trovagene's ctDNA urine and blood tests will be utilized as noninvasive diagnostic tools to enable early detection and rapid monitoring of patient response to therapy. The Trovagene assay will allow us to quickly test multiple therapies to determine which one will be most effective in treating an individual patient's tumor."
"We believe we have a remarkable technology with the Trovera KRAS test, and one of the most impactful diseases we can utilize this test in is pancreatic cancer," added Mark Erlander, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Trovagene. "Building on our prior work establishing industry-leading KRAS detection capability this program will further develop evidence supporting the use of KRAS molecular monitoring to both drive faster treatment decisions and to detect disease at a stage where patients simply have more treatment options."
