In an effort to expand in the growing market of companion diagnostics, Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) has signed a master collaboration agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical major Novartis AG (NVS). This non-exclusive agreement will help the company develop and commercialize its companion diagnostics offerings in partnership with Novartis’ existing and upcoming pharmaceutical product and compounds. However, financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed.
This deal marks the ninth master framework agreement entered into by Qiagen to develop and commercialize companion diagnostics with renowned pharma companies, including with the likes of Eli Lilly and Bayer. The scope of this agreement covers all platforms, indications and biomarkers of Qiagen.
Currently, Qiagen has more than 20 collaborative projects with pharma and biotech companies on companion diagnostics for the treatment of cancers and other diseases. The company’s long-term business strategy involves entering into strategic alliances as well as marketing and distribution arrangements with academic, corporate and other partners relating to the development, commercialization, marketing and distribution of certain existing and potential products.These lay the ground work for future projects in various therapeutic areas by standardizing interfaces and processes between the organizations.
Qiagen’s therascreen KRAS RGQ PCR Kit in colorectal cancer received approvals from the FDA in 2012 and 2014. In 2013, its therascreen EGFR test won the FDA nod in NSCLC. Both the tests run on Rotor-Gene Q. In addition, the company is also a leading developer of universal solutions for NGS platforms which include a broad number of gene panels that cover an extensive range of cancer-related genes and gene regions.
A recent addition to Qiagen’s platform portfolio for companion diagnostics is the multi-modal, multi-analyte Modaplex system, which enables laboratories to analyze multiple sample types simultaneously for dozens of DNA and RNA biomarkers. Moreover, the company is engaged in companion diagnostics based on blood or other fluid samples for medical situations that make surgical biopsies difficult.
Qiagen currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). While we choose to remain on the sidelines regarding QGEN at present, stocks worth considering in the broader medical sector are Illumina Inc. (ILMN) and ICU Medical, Inc. (ICUI). Both the stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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