Almac, Pfizer, PETACC3 Enter Research Pact

Almac, Pfizer and the PETACC3 Translational Research Working Party (PTRW) will conduct a collaborative study involving gene expression profiling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples from the Pan-European Trials in Adjuvant Colon Cancer (PETACC 3) trial. The study will use Almac Diagnostic’s Colorectal Cancer DSA research tool to identify molecular subtypes, biomarkers and drug targets.

The samples to be used in the study are taken from the PETACC 3 study, an international randomized trial of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II and III colon cancer. This study represents a new resource in advancing the molecular understanding of colon cancer.

Prof. Paul Harkin, president and managing director of Almac Diagnostics, stated, “As understanding grows of the heterogeneity of cancer, it is becoming increasingly clear that molecular subtypes are important both in patients’ prognosis and in predicting their response to chemotherapy. This has already been shown in breast cancer, and the study to be led by Almac, Pfizer and PTRW aims to examine this in colorectal cancer.”