Boehringer teams with DxS for EGFR assay

Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim has entered into an agreement with UK-based personalized medicine company DxS to provide a companion  diagnostic test kit for its Tovok (BIBW 2992) to identify mutations of  the epidermal growth factor receptor in patients with non small cell  lung cancer.

The DxS EGFR companion diagnostic is a real-time PCR assay, designed to  detect the most common mutations in the EGFR gene. The test will be  available later in the summer for Boehringer Ingelheim's Phase III  clinical trial of BIBW 2992.

BIBW 2992 is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor that acts by irreversibly  blocking the EGFR /HER2 receptors, which are promoters of tumor growth.  As with other tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapies, patients with  mutations in the EGFR gene will be more likely to respond to a  medication that targets these receptors, thereby allowing doctors to  prescribe the most effective and individual treatment, the firms say.  Furthermore, BIBW 2992 has demonstrated preclinical activity against  erlotinib- and gefitinib-resistant mutations.