GERMANTOWN, Md. & HILDEN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced launch of its novel therascreen® BRAF V600E RGQ PCR Kit (therascreen BRAF V600E Kit) following U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as a companion diagnostic to the BRAF inhibitor, BRAFTOVI® (encorafenib), which the FDA has approved for use in combination with cetuximab for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) with a BRAF V600E mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved test, after prior therapy.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer, and approximately 150,000 patients a year in the United States are diagnosed with CRC. In primary and metastatic CRC, BRAF mutations (nearly always V600E) are present in up to 15% of patients and are thought to be key drivers of tumor growth. Detection of the V600E mutation utilizing the therascreen BRAF V600E assays will help identify patients eligible for treatment with the newly approved combination of BRAFTOVI and cetuximab. The therascreen BRAF V600E kit runs on QIAGEN’s Rotor-Gene Q MDx, a member of the modular QIAsymphony family of automation solutions.
“We are very excited about the launch of the new therascreen BRAF V600E Kit, our first companion diagnostic test to obtain FDA approval for the detection of a mutation in the BRAF gene and our third CDx approval in colorectal cancer. Using our new test to help guide treatment decisions in colorectal cancer will address a high unmet medical need among patients,” said Jonathan Arnold, Vice President and Head of Partnering for Precision Diagnostics at QIAGEN. “The new therascreen BRAF V600E Kit will be available to accelerate the availability of innovations in precision medicine.”
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For more information on QIAGEN’s companion diagnostics please visit www.qiagen.com/braf