基因君官网
2015年4月14日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ –近两年来，随着数以十亿计美元的投入，新的肿瘤治疗疗法不断涌现出来。基因疗法、RNAi疗法以及现在火得一塌糊涂的肿瘤免疫疗法都为人类最终解决癌症这一生死大敌做出了重大贡献。然而，面对如此多的新型疗法，医生该如何选择适合患者的疗法？在临床研究中，科学家该如何确定一种新型肿瘤疗法适用人群？随着研究的深入，这些问题逐渐成为亟待生物医药产业解决的问题。
最近，罗氏公司通过收购CAPP Medical公司给出了自己的选择。CAPP Medical这家由斯坦福大学的科研人员创建的生物技术公司致力于通过基因组学的方法来检测患者肿瘤类型，研究人员通过获得患者肿瘤部位血液来分离出肿瘤细胞的DNA并据此对患者肿瘤类型进行划分。这一方法将比目前的检测方法如CT等更廉价、简便也更准确。
罗氏公司希望利用CAPP Medical的这一技术辅助公司肿瘤部门的研究。一方面这些技术能够帮助药物开发者筛选适合特定肿瘤类型群体的理想疗法，另一方面也可以帮助公司追踪疗法在临床过程中疗效如何，以便公司进一步改进。
罗氏公司拥有世界上最强大的肿瘤研发部门。事实上，早在几年前公司就已经开始着手开发基因组学检测肿瘤的新方法。2008年公司以34亿美元的价格收购了Ventana Medical Systems公司，迈出了基因检测肿瘤患者的第一步。此次收购CAPP Medical公司，罗氏公司显然希望在这一领域继续深挖，以扩大自身优势。罗氏公司此次并未透露收购CAPP Medical公司的具体金额。（基因宝jiyinbao.com）
详细英文报道：
Roche ($RHHBY) bought up a Stanford University-founded upstart with a promising approach to tracking the spread of cancer, eyeing a new tool in its expansive oncology R&D efforts.
The company, CAPP Medical, has developed a screening technology that trawls blood for circulating tumor DNA, isolating and quantifying the genetic material to make inferences about a patient’s cancer. That system has the potential to help drug developers find the ideal therapy for particular patients, according to Roche, and it could be used to monitor tumor response to therapy in clinical trials.
Founded in 2013, CAPP is based on work out of the lab of Stanford’s Maximilian Diehn, using fine-tuned assays to profile tumors without the need for patient-specific optimization. That, according to the company, allows for rapid cancer detection, and Roche is betting CAPP’s technology will come in handy in oncology trials.
“Roche believes focused and high-quality next-generation sequencing assays using simple blood draws have the potential to significantly advance the time of cancer diagnosis and change routine cancer diagnostic monitoring and may be highly cost-effective compared to today’s current standard of using PET and CT imaging to monitor tumor progression,” Roche Diagnostics COO Roland Diggelmann said in a statement.
Roche isn’t disclosing how much it’s paying for CAPP and its analysis platform.
In parallel with its industry-leading stable of oncology therapies, Roche has invested billions to better its understanding of cancer diagnosis. The Swiss company traded about $3.4 billion for Ventana Medical Systems in 2008 to get a bigger foothold in cancer detection and pair targeted therapies like Herceptin with tests designed to find their ideal recipients, and, in the ensuing years, each of Roche’s high-profile targeted treatments has debuted alongside a companion diagnostic engineered to guide its use.