AstraZeneca advances PARP inhibitor into Phase 3 trial with BRACAnalysis

Myriad Genetics (MYGN) announced that AstraZeneca (AZN) will use Myriad's BRACAnalysis test as a companion diagnostic to stratify patients in AstraZeneca's pivotal Phase 3 clinical studies for olaparib. Myriad has submitted an Investigational Device Exemption, IDE, with the FDA for BRACAnalysis testing, which will allow the test to be used as a companion diagnostic to identify potential responders to olaparib therapy in the United States. While Myriad will be replacing the BRACAnalysis test with myRisk Hereditary Cancer for hereditary cancer testing, the company plans to offer BRACAnalysis testing as a companion diagnostic -- following review by FDA -- to help select patients who are likely to respond to poly ADP ribose polymerase, PARP, inhibitors, a novel, targeted class of promising cancer therapeutics. Olaparib is a novel, orally active PARP inhibitor that induces synthetic lethality in homozygous BRCA-deficient cells. Phase 2 clinical data presented at ASCO 2013 showed that patients with BRCA mutated ovarian cancers received the greatest clinical benefit from maintenance treatment with olaparib, warranting further study. Based on these data, Myriad will collaborate with AstraZeneca to deliver BRAC testing for its pivotal clinical studies.