Targeted Therapeutics: Linking EGF Receptor Drugs to Diagnostics

Herceptin-HerceptTest is a successful model of the benefits of linking a therapeutic to a diagnostic test, but the ties aren't as clear-cut in the next crop of targeted therapies to come to market. EGF receptor-based drugs work on specific receptor targets in a variety of cancers, but scientists haven't been able so far to correlate patient response to the drugs to receptor presence or quantity. Yet the issue is extremely important, both to pharma companies seeking to determine how they will design their clinical trials and submit data to the FDA and to diagnostic companies looking for a new kind of market.