GeneCentric Therapeutics announced it has entered into a research collaboration with Janssen Research & Development, LLC (Janssen) around RNA-based drug response biomarkers for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). The research will involve the application of GeneCentric’s advanced RNA-based molecular profiling platform to elucidate potential signatures of disease progression and drug response to standard of care therapy, including the role of genomic alterations in the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR). Financial terms were not disclosed.
While cancer subtypes identified in the setting of metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) have been associated with disease risk and potential therapeutic response, there is a paucity of such characterization in the area of NMIBC to potentially inform clinical decision making. The application of GeneCentric’s RNA-based gene-expression signatures have potential to identify relevant NMIBC subtypes and markers of response to potential therapeutic options. FGFR genomic alterations are among the more common tumor mutations in these patients.
“We look forward to continued deployment of our suite of RNA-based genomics analysis solutions in this collaboration as we explore the potential role of FGFR in NMIBC,” said Dr. Mike Milburn, President and CEO of GeneCentric Therapeutics. “This study comes on the heels of the retrospective analysis of mUC patients that were presented earlier this year at the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.”
Specifically, the research collaboration aims to deepen tumor genomic and immune microenvironment insights in the setting NMIBC patients utilizing GeneCentric’s RNA-based tumor bioinformatics technology, including the Bladder Cancer Subtype Profiler (BCSP), pan-cancer diagnostics, cancer antigen discovery, immunogenomic biomarkers, and prototype FGFR activation gene signatures.