$215 million precision-medicine initiative takes shape

Abstract

accurate patient population identification and inclusion criteria for clinical trials. Roche says it plans to let Foundation continue to operate independently. Foundation has previously struck research deals with more than 20 biopharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Eisai, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Sanofi. Foundation, for its part, hopes that the collaboration with Roche will boost market adoption and reimbursement for its tests. The deal mirrors Roche's partnership with Genentech. Roche bought a majority stake in Genentech in 1990, before acquiring it outright in 2009. Mike Varney, the new chief of R&D at Genentech, recently told Nature Reviews Drug Discovery that Roche has kept its 2009 pledge to let Genentech's R&D division operate independently (see Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 14, 158–159; 2015). The ability to tap into Roche's diagnostic tools and capabilities has been " a big synergy that we have found working within the broader Roche organization, " he added. Asher Mullard Roche buys $1 billion majority stake in Foundation In the latest play to expand its diagnostic capabilities, Roche has bought a controlling stake in the genomic cancer diagnostics firm Foundation Medicine. Although Foundation has yet to turn a profit, it has made a name for itself by genetically profiling patient tumour samples to match patients to targeted and novel therapies. Under the terms of a research and development (R&D) collaboration that was set up as part of the share purchase, the two companies now plan to focus on developing genomic profile tests for cancer immunotherapies and for continuous blood-based monitoring. Roche also says it will use Foundation's molecular profiling platform to standardize clinical trial testing, enabling better comparability of its clinical trial results. The collaboration could also lead to new combination therapies, the identification of novel targets and more NEWS IN BRIEF