Genomic company ArcherDX Inc said on Tuesday that it has entered into a strategic collaboration to develop assays to support multiple planned Phase 3 clinical trials for AstraZeneca's targeted immuno-oncology therapeutics for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer therapies.

Pursuant to the agreement, ArcherDX will perform Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) of resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient samples and generate patient-specific circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) assays.

In conjunction with the partnership, ArcherDX plans to leverage the PCM assays to develop companion diagnostics (CDx) for AstraZeneca's associated therapies as well as seek global regulatory approval if the Phase 3 clinical trials are completed successfully.

ArcherDX's Personalized Cancer Monitoring (PCM) development programme, which applies its Anchored Multiplex PCR (AMP) technology to accurately detect exceedingly low levels of cancer-derived DNA from patient blood, is supported by Professor Charles Swanton of UCL and the Francis Crick Institute as part of the Cancer Research UK-funded UCL-sponsored TRACERx study.

The master collaboration agreement also allows for expansion into additional disease indications and therapeutic categories.