Angsana’s RNA-based fusions cancer panel selected for Ignyta’s STARTRK2 clinical trial in Asia-Pacif

Angsana Molecular & Diagnostics has announced that it will be a partner molecular test laboratory for STARTRK-2 clinical trial sites in Asia working with Ignyta, a biotechnology company focused on precision medicine in oncology. Angsana Molecular & Diagnostics’ RNA-based fusions cancer panel will be used for screening TRK, ROS1 and ALK fusions in the STARTRK-2 clinical trial, a registration-enabling global Phase 2 basket clinical trial for entrectinib, Ignyta’s investigational, orally available, CNS-active tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting tumors that harbor TRK, ROS1 or ALK fusions.

Phase 1 data recently published online in Cancer Discovery showed entrectinib to be well tolerated, with responses observed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal cancer, mammary analog secretory carcinoma (MASC), melanoma and renal cell carcinoma as early as four weeks after first treatment and lasting as long as 2.5 years and still ongoing. That publication reported a 79 percentage response rate in 24 patients with TRK, ROS1, or ALK-driven extracranial solid tumors, and showed entrectinib responses to be both rapid and durable in patients with advanced solid tumors across multiple histologies and each of the molecular targets of interest, including in multiple patients with metastatic CNS disease.

"Ignyta is excited to partner with Angsana to conduct diagnostic screening at our STARTRK-2 clinical trial sites in Asia, which will help us get entrectinib to patients with tumors driven by TRK, ROS1 or ALK fusions," said Jonathan Lim, chairman and CEO of Ignyta. "Entrectinib is the only TRK inhibitor to have published data demonstrating RECIST responses in NSCLC and in patients with cancer in the CNS. The anti-tumor activity seen across cancer types and entrectinib’s ability to treat bulky CNS disease, particularly important given the propensity for many solid tumors to metastasize to the brain, is extremely encouraging," continued Jonathan Lim.

"The era of the shift away from one-size-fits-all, trial-and-error medicine, toward a health care system that utilizes molecular information to improve outcomes and make the health care system more efficient, has finally arrived to Asia Pacific especially in the area of targeted therapy for oncology," says Chris Tan, chief executive officer and founder of Angsana Molecular & Diagnostics. Chris Tan added that our College of American Pathologists (CAP) accredited molecular laboratories in Singapore and Hong Kong, S.A.R., China, turnaround time and cost efficiency are critical to support Ignyta for their STARTRK-2 trial in Singapore and Asia.