NEW YORK – Single-cell DNA analysis startup Mission Bio and biopharmaceutical firm Onconova announced today that they signed a collaboration to use Mission Bio's Tapestri platform for targeted single-cell DNA analysis to study Onconova's cancer therapy through clinical trials.
As part of the agreement, Newton, Pennsylvania-based Onconova will apply the Tapestri platform in clinical trials to examine rigosertib, a small molecule mimetic the company is currently developing to target the RAS mutation in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Onconova aims to fully enroll INSPIRE, its phase III clinical trial studying rigosertib in higher-risk MDS patients, by the end of the year.
According to Mission Bio, Tapestri can detect rare cancer subclones and co-occurring cancer mutations at the single-cell level to provide a precise way to measure therapy response and disease progression.
"In adding the Tapestri platform to our research and development program, we are including the opportunity to study single cell clones in MDs and determine the sequence of genetic events and the influence of rigosertib on these events along with clinical outcomes," Onconova CEO Steve Fruchtman said in a statement.
Financial details of the agreement were undisclosed.
In March, the Laboratory Corporation of America's Covance drug development business signed an agreement with Mission Bio to use Tapestri as part of its biopharmaceutical services. In May, University of Pennsylvania and the University of California San Francisco-led researchers used Tapestri to identify treatment-emergent mutations in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.