Thermo Fisher: pharmacogenomics tool to make clinical trials more efficient
The solution, aptly named PharmacoScan, is a microarray-based research tool, which contains pharmacogenomic content with relevant markers involved in absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) pathways of commonly prescribed medicines.
“This is the first time that drug developers have the ability to test a sample for this large a number of variants, including copy number variants, on a single platform,” Kim Caple, VP of Product Marketing for Microarray at Thermo Fisher Scientific, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
“This makes clinical trials more efficient by enabling drug metabolism associations to be made more quickly and cost effectively, which translates to better targeting of a drug to a patient cohort,” she added.
The product was developed in consultation with experts in the field of pharmacogenomics, and using content from industry recognized databases and literature.
How does it work?
“PharmacoScan is arrays in a plate format,” explained Caple, a format which she said allows several samples to be tested at the same time.
Specifically, researchers can examine more than 4,600 markers in nearly 1,200 genes involved in pharmacogenomics pathways with a single assay.
“The assay uses the same proven high fidelity probe design and Axiom hybridization chemistry used in our biobanking arrays,” added Caple.
The data is then analyzed using the PharmacoScan Console, which translates the sample’s genotypes to star allele and phenotype results.
According to the company, early access customers include the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM); University of Alberta; and genomic service laboratories, such as RUCDR Infinite Biologics and Eurofins Genomics/AROS Applied Biotechnology.
The solution is to be used for research purposes only and is not to be used in diagnostic procedures.
