BOULDER, Colo., March 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biodesix, Inc. (Boulder, CO, USA), a molecular diagnostics company has entered into a biomarker research collaboration with Checkmate Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel approaches for cancer immunotherapy.
The collaboration will focus on the analysis of the circulating proteome of advanced melanoma patients treated with CMP-001 in combination with pembrolizumab, utilizing Biodesix’s proprietary Diagnostic Cortex® artificial intelligence-based biomarker discovery platform.1 The platform enables the development of clinically-relevant proteomic liquid biopsy tests. CMP-001 is a first-in-class CpG-A oligonucleotide that activates the innate immune system via Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9). The combination therapy with pembrolizumab has the potential to improve the response rate of cancer patients receiving checkpoint inhibitor therapies and to increase the magnitude and duration of the patients’ anti-tumor responses, providing added clinical benefit. A serum-based diagnostic test, if found to be associated with a favorable response to CMP-001, could prove to be clinically useful for identifying patients more likely to benefit from the combination therapy.
“Immunotherapies have been shown to offer great clinical benefit for some patients. Our biomarker development platform facilitates the development of new therapies by ensuring that before they come to market, characteristics of the patients who can benefit the most from them have already been identified,” said David Brunel, Biodesix CEO. “We are happy to be providing this service for Checkmate and their promising combination therapy, CMP-001.”
Art Krieg, Checkmate’s CEO said, “We’re looking forward to working with Biodesix on this research collaboration to identify patients more likely to benefit from the combination of CMP-001 and anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.”
About Biodesix
Biodesix® is a molecular diagnostics company advancing the development of innovative blood tests in oncology to enable precision medicine. Biodesix discovers, develops and commercializes multivariate protein and genomic diagnostic blood tests, including the GeneStrat® and VeriStrat® tests that deliver results within 72 hours. The company is changing the standard of care by providing physicians with diagnostic tests for better therapeutic guidance, more accurate prognosis and enhanced disease monitoring to improve patient outcomes. At the forefront of precision medicine, Biodesix is developing new blood tests to identify patients who may benefit from immunotherapies. In addition to developing novel diagnostics independently, the company partners with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to develop companion diagnostics for use with therapeutic agents.