Leveraging ddPCR to advance personalized monitoring in cancer patients

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., a global leader in life science research and clinical diagnostic products, has released an overview of advances supporting the company’s overall corporate strategy to improve science and healthcare in the year to date. Centered on Bio-Rad’s Droplet Digital™ PCR (ddPCR™) solutions, achievements include strategic research collaborations with leading oncology institutions and health networks to enhance clinical monitoring of cancer patients.

Molecular residual disease (MRD) monitoring of cancer provides an indication of both remission and potential relapse, and is being increasingly adopted for the monitoring of solid tumors. Bio-Rad’s QX600™ Droplet Digital PCR System offers sensitivity, precision, and absolute quantification capabilities, and can be used by researchers to detect disease markers such as circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, earlier and more precisely than other commonly used technologies. Bio-Rad is reaching a comprehensive range of laboratories through its strategic collaborations — from academic centers to integrated health networks to service providers — with the goal of enabling clinical evidence generation using Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR™) to advance precision oncology.

Bio-Rad is collaborating with Allegheny Health Network (AHN), an integrated health network with 14 hospitals, in an observational study using Droplet Digital PCR for tumor-informed MRD monitoring in patients with solid-tumor cancer following curative-intent treatment.

Bio-Rad is also collaborating with the Department of Molecular Medicine (MOMA) at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, which houses a close synergy between research and clinical activities, in a study incorporating the QX600 ddPCR System to generate clinical evidence for MRD monitoring post curative–intent treatment in patients with colorectal cancer.

Additionally, Bio-Rad continues to collaborate with Biodesix, a diagnostics solutions company with a focus on lung diseases, to develop and commercialize a pipeline of novel, highly multiplexed ddPCR oncology biomarker assays. Biodesix recently announced its use of Droplet Digital PCR in the evolution of its collaborative research agreement with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, driving forward advancements in cancer diagnostics and treatment.

Alongside these oncology-focused partnerships, Bio-Rad announced a collaboration with Oncocyte, a precision diagnostics company, to use the QX600 Droplet Digital PCR System to develop and commercialize transplant monitoring tests, furthering the utility of Droplet Digital PCR for liquid biopsy applications.

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