Solid tumor assays have been launched by Mission Bio Inc., through its Pharma Assay Development (PAD) services.
The availability of this new service offering from Mission Bio, a high-throughput single-cell DNA and multi-omics analysis company, will help accelerate the development of cancer therapeutics. It will do so by reducing the time and cost associated with characterization of solid tumor cells.
The company says that precision therapeutics for solid tumors have been historically bottlenecked. This is due to technical challenges associated with the ability to deeply profile thousands of individual cells for a rich characterization of tumor evolution and heterogeneity. This must be done at a much higher resolution compared to bulk next-generation sequencing. This enables detection of rare events, at a much earlier stage before progression.
High-resolution data
The company will use its Tapestri platform and PAD services for solid tumors to partner with researchers to provide high-resolution data to reveal the underlying genetic diversity across cell populations.
Improved patient stratification comes from insights into the clonal landscape and co-occurrence of mutations together with the identification of druggable targets for precision therapeutics. Researchers are also able to monitor treatment resistance by analyzing the acquisition of rare mutations driving tumor progression over the course of treatment.
The expansion of Mission Bio’s PAD services to solid tumor research comes just three months after the launch of the Solid Tumor Solution on the Tapestri Platform. The company says this demonstrates its commitment to continuously developing innovative single-cell technologies for its pharma customers.
Tremendous uptake
Todd Druley, chief medical officer at Mission Bio said: “We have seen tremendous uptake and interest from top-tier pharma companies for our blood cancer Pharma Assay Development program, and we expect the same momentum for our solid tumor services.
“With our solid tumor services, Mission Bio partners with pharma customers to elucidate the mechanisms of drug resistance through mutation acquisition, determine how cells transform from benign to malignant states, and reveal the genomic changes enabling cancer cells to metastasize – without having to bring single-cell technology or resources in-house. From a customer’s perspective, it is as easy as shipping out samples and getting a fully analyzed report back.”
Mission Bio’s PAD services aim to deliver comprehensive support across the therapeutic development process. The company has a dedicated team that works with researchers to develop assays, identify high-impact samples, and analyze the data. As part of the service, pharma partners have access to Mission Bio’s technology, assay development team, research and development organization, and bioinformatics support.