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Roche Sees Biomarker-Guided Discovery As Key To Unlocking Tumor Microenvironment

 
• By Bridget Silverman

For Roche, PD-L1 is just the first target to emerge from its big investment in understanding the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The company’s research operations use biomarkers to guide discovery and increasingly important early development and combination strategies – potentially a more fruitful use of biomarker strategies than parallel development of companion diagnostics and therapeutics.

Roche, with its feet firmly planted in both pharma and diagnostics, is heavily invested in the search for biomarkers. In addition to looking at their use as a basis for companion diagnostics and patient selection in the treatment setting, the company is highlighting the role of biomarkers as tools for understanding cancer biology and the complexities of the tumor microenvironment to guide research and early development.

Markers like PD-1/PD-L1 unleash huge waves of enthusiasm about their potential for getting drugs to patients, but the complexities of cancer biology inevitably complicate any triumphant narrative, as the recent American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting showed for checkpoint inhibitors like the

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More from Clinical Trials

UK Health Data Research Service Looks ‘Encouraging’ For Industry, But Implementation Details Will Be Key

 
• By Anabel Costa-Ferreira

Marcus Vass and Vladimir Murovec of international law firm Osborne Clarke tell the Pink Sheet what the government's planned HDRS might mean for industry, and how it compares with the European Health Data Space.

EU Health Data Space May Speed Up R&D Through Access To Multi-Omics & Clinical Record Data

 
• By Eliza Slawther

The European Health Data Space framework will allow companies to accelerate R&D processes and identify new molecular targets faster by facilitating centralized access to certain types of high-quality data, Finland’s Orion Pharma says.

What The EMA Can Teach HTA Bodies About Joint Clinical Assessments

 
• By Francesca Bruce

EU-level joint clinical assessments conducted under the Health Technology Assessment Regulation need to be more flexible when it comes to evidence requirements, according to experts speaking at a gene and cell therapy conference.

EU ‘Can’t Expect Industry To Give Up Proprietary Insights’ Under Health Data & Clinical Trials Regulations

 
• By Eliza Slawther

Both the EU Clinical Trials Regulation and the European Health Data Space Regulation have the potential to improve harmonization and be highly valuable for industry – but the importance of protecting company data will be paramount, a life sciences consultant says.

More from R&D

Unlocking Opportunities: How To Engage With The EMA On Animal Testing Alternatives

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

The European Medicines Agency, like its counterpart in the US, is increasingly focusing on the use of alternatives to animal testing.

EU Pharma Reform: Exclusivity Vouchers Alone Are Insufficient Incentive For Antimicrobials, Industry Says

 
• By Eliza Slawther

European pharma trade associations EFPIA and EUCOPE outline their respective views on how the EU’s pharma legislation overhaul should tackle antimicrobial resistance, and why transferable exclusivity vouchers alone will not suffice as incentives.

What The EMA Can Teach HTA Bodies About Joint Clinical Assessments

 
• By Francesca Bruce

EU-level joint clinical assessments conducted under the Health Technology Assessment Regulation need to be more flexible when it comes to evidence requirements, according to experts speaking at a gene and cell therapy conference.