Cancer Genetics and BARC launch partnership

In business for more than 25 years, BARC is part of Cerba HealthCare, a European medical leader with an international multidisciplinary network of 350 clinical labs and 4,200 staff members.

BARC and CGI are expected to jointly market, sell and deliver on contracts that service a market that is increasingly global, and in demand for more validated biomarker and companion strategies that support oncology trials.

The partnership will have an immediate focus on immuno-oncology, hematological cancers and lung cancer and will plan on developing market specific offerings that are collaboratively sold and serviced.

“We are very excited about this partnership, as this will help our customers on a global basis to accelerate their drug development and incorporate the additional biomarker and genomic data needed to improve decision-making. CGI will enable BARC to offer world-class genomics expertise to make early decisions in the complex field of oncology, especially in the very competitive environment of immuno-oncology,” said Michel Abiteboul, CEO of BARC. “We strongly believe that our combined efforts will support the precision medicine approach of pharmaceutical companies globally for the benefit of patients and their families.”

Panna Sharma, CEO of Cancer Genetics Inc., states, “With BARC and CGI focused on the same goal of providing patients, physicians and pharmaceutical companies with the best healthcare service, this partnership will meet the most demanding standards in personalized medicine worldwide.”

“It will satisfy the enormous need among biotech and pharmaceutical companies for more efficient and comprehensive testing solutions by integrating CGI’s specialized, genomic testing with BARC’s laboratory solutions and global network,” Sharma adds. “Providing better and more integrated access to both the U.S. and European markets is a critical need in oncology trials that are becoming more global and increasing in cost and complexity.”

With later-stage clinical research and trials shifting overseas, the partnership will provide clients access to combined expertise ranging from complex, oncology-focused genomic testing to core central laboratory analysis and from project and data management to sample logistics, and it will address the increased pressure regarding turnaround time due to increasingly globalized studies. The combined expertise in biomarker discovery and companion diagnostics development will become critical for offering the development and validation of oncology biomarkers and for implementing technology transfers that support the precision oncology efforts of with global customers.

Based on recent industry reports by PhRMA, an industry organization representing the leading biopharmaceutical research companies in the United States, per-patient clinical trial costs are estimated to have averaged $36,500 during Phase 3 trials, with oncology trials showing the highest average per-patient cost of $59,500 during Phase 3.

The CGI and BARC combination is expected to help lower clinical trial costs and complexity by facilitating access to international markets, implementing harmonized protocols and data integration standards across lab and trials and reducing the complexities of workflow across sites, sample management and storage and logistics.