Myriad Genetics and Leading Cancer Center Collaborate to Study the Use of Minimal Residual Disease Testing in Breast Cancer
Research will use Myriad’s high-definition MRD testing platform based on whole-genome sequencing
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 18, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Genetics, Inc., (NASDAQ: MYGN), a leader in genetic testing and precision medicine, today announced a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) to study the use of minimal residual disease (MRD) testing in breast cancer. The research project will use Myriad’s MRD testing platform, a tumor-informed high-definition assay that uses whole-genome sequencing to achieve high sensitivity and specificity for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).
Myriad is working together with Pedram Razavi, MD, PhD, a breast medical oncologist and Director of Liquid Biopsy & Genomics at MSK Global Biomarker Development Program. The MSK research team will investigate the use of MRD testing for patients in two breast cancer cohorts. The first will be in a metastatic patient population treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors and will evaluate the ability of MRD testing to predict treatment response. The second will be focused on the neoadjuvant setting and will assess the association of MRD testing with chemotherapy treatment response.
“Several publications show that MRD testing provides prognostic information about cancer recurrence, but the studies we are undertaking with MSK will be among the first few to assess the predictive benefit of MRD testing associated with particular treatments,” said Dale Muzzey, chief scientific officer, Myriad Genetics. “Because we use whole-genome sequencing to inform our MRD assay, we often have thousands of tumor-specific sites to track rather than the tens of sites available in other MRD assays. The increased number of sites is particularly important in breast cancer, which tends to have low tumor fraction, so having more sites is critical to detecting low-level cancer with confidence.”
“This collaboration could help to transform treatment for patients with metastatic breast cancer by better determining who will respond to a therapy and who will not,” said Dr. Razavi. “We anticipate the MRD test from Myriad will be more sensitive and specific than many other ctDNA offerings for monitoring the response and, therefore, may more accurately identify the patients who will or will not benefit from certain therapies. Importantly, some of these patients may go undetected on a less-sensitive MRD test. We are further excited by the prospect of using a combined tumor tissue and ctDNA approach to predict and detect when and how tumors acquire resistance, such that the therapeutic regimen can adapt accordingly.”
Myriad’s MRD test is available for use in research studies pursued jointly by Myriad and academic or pharmaceutical investigators. It can be used to monitor ctDNA levels throughout a cancer patient’s clinical care, starting immediately after diagnosis and continuing through survivorship monitoring.
About Myriad Genetics
Myriad Genetics is a leading genetic testing and precision medicine company dedicated to advancing health and well-being for all. Myriad develops and offers genetic tests that help assess the risk of developing disease or disease progression and guide treatment decisions across medical specialties where genetic insights can significantly improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. For more information, visit www.myriad.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including that the MSK research team will use the company’s high-definition MRD testing platform and investigate the use of MRD testing for patients in two breast cancer cohorts. These “forward-looking statements” are management’s expectations of future events as of the date hereof and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, conditions, and events to differ materially and adversely from those anticipated. Such factors include those risks described in the company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 1, 2023, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in the company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. Myriad is not under any obligation, and it expressly disclaims any obligation, to update or alter any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law.
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