NEW YORK – Geneseeq Technology and Zai Lab on Wednesday said they're working together to advance precision cancer drugs and companion diagnostics in China.
Shanghai-based Zai Lab markets the PARP inhibitor niraparib (GlaxoSmithKline's Zejula) for ovarian cancer and the kinase inhibitor ripretinib (Deciphera's Qinlock) for gastro-intestinal stromal tumors in China. The company has also licensed several investigational precision oncology treatments for development and commercialization in greater China, including Mirati's KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib; Cullinan Oncology's EGFR inhibitor CLN-081; and two drugs from Turning Point Therapeutics, the MET/SRC/CSF1R inhibitor TPX-0022 and the ROS1/TRK/ALK inhibitor repotrectinib.
In a statement, William Liang, Zai Lab's chief commercial officer and president of the company's greater China operations, said the firm expects to receive regulatory approval for between 10 and 15 cancer drugs, many of which will rely on biomarker testing. As part of their collaboration, genomic testing company Geneseeq will support Zai Lab's drug development and commercialization efforts by recruiting patients for clinical trials, setting up central laboratory testing, and developing companion diagnostics.
Geneseeq, headquartered in Canada and China, offers pan-cancer and cancer-specific genomic panels that can match patients to treatments. The company also operates an accredited lab in China that has sequenced more than 500,000 clinical samples.
Marc Zhao, cofounder and chief operating officer of Geneseeq, said in a statement that the companies "hope to use this strategic collaboration as the cornerstone to combine resources of both companies to provide high-quality cancer diagnostics and treatment solutions."