Arno Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative products for the treatment of cancer, has signed an agreement with Veridex, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company, for the development of a diagnostic test to help identify patients that could potentially benefit from treatment with anti-progestinssuch asonapristone, ArnoTherapeutics’ orally administered, investigational type 1 progestin receptor antagonist.
The collaboration will allow Arno Therapeutics to utilize CELLSEARCH®, Veridex’s proprietary technology that uses an advanced cell separation technique to isolate CTCs and further analyze the cells for the presence of APR. The CELLSEARCH® CTC System is the first and only standardized, FDA-cleared, semi-automated system of its kind.
Pre-clinical studies demonstrated that the presence of APR has shown to be predictive of onapristone activity. The diagnostic test will be used in future clinical studies of onapristone, which are slated to begin in the second half of 2013.
“We are pleased to work with Veridex as we believe its pioneering technology for isolating circulating tumor cells will serve as an important tool for the continued development and study of onapristone,” Glenn Mattes, CEO and president, Arno Therapeutics stated in the press release. “By taking blood samples from patients rather than obtaining tissue samples, we hope to create a simplified and less invasive process for identifying patients that are most likely to benefit from treatment with onapristone.”
For more information visit www.arnothera.com
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