Illumina Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc. are partnering to commercialize tests identifying genetic mutations used in the assessment of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). Patients whose tumors are HRD-positive may be eligible for targeted chemotherapy treatment by a class of precision medicines called PARP inhibitors. The companies will develop tests utilizing Illumina's Trusight Oncology 500 assay for genomic profiling, which is designed to identify 523 known and emerging tumor biomarkers.

A new deal between Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc and Roche Holding AG's Genentech Inc. aims to develop allogeneic cell therapies for up to five shared cancer targets. Should the agreement win regulatory clearance, still pending, Adaptimmune will receive $150 million up front and additional payments of $150 million over five years. In addition, it could be eligible for development, regulatory and commercial milestones payments from Roche exceeding $3 billion, plus royalties.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health had its hands full with the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program as the COVID-19 pandemic unwound, but the agency’s other work on diagnostics is bearing fruit. NIH said Aug. 31 that its collaboration with an academic research institute has led to development of a test that predicts which patients suffering from neurofibromatosis will develop cancers with metastatic potential.

In studies that give new insights into both developmental biology and the origins of melanoma, investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College have identified the activity of chromatin remodeling protein ATAD2 as necessary for cells with the oncogenic mutation V600E to give rise to melanomas. Involvement of epigenetic factors in cancers, or their targeting, is not new in cancer – as HDAC inhibitors as well as newer drugs such as the EZH2 inhibitor Tazverik (tazemetostat, Epizyme Inc.) demonstrate. But to Richard White and his colleagues, the point of their work is not so much about individual targets.