SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN), a global leader in molecular diagnostics and precision medicine, announced today the expansion of Myriad myChoice® tumor testing in several European markets and China.
Myriad myChoice CDx is the industry’s most clinically-validated genomic instability test. The test enables physicians to identify patients with tumors that have lost the ability to repair double-stranded DNA breaks, resulting in potentially increased susceptibility to DNA-damaging drugs such as platinum drugs or PARP inhibitors, including Lynparza (olaparib). A biomarker subgroup analysis of the PAOLA-1 Phase III trial (Olaparib plus Bevacizumab as First-Line Maintenance in Ovarian Cancer, 2019) of Lynparza included patients with advanced ovarian cancer and homologous recombination deficient (HRD)-positive tumors as detected by the myChoice test, including those with BRCA gene mutations. The trial showed that Lynparza in combination with bevacizumab maintenance treatment improved progression-free survival to a median of 37.2 months versus 17.7 months for bevacizumab alone in patients with HRD-positive advanced ovarian cancer. Recently, the European Commission authorized use of Lynparza for the first-line maintenance treatment with bevacizumab of patients with HRD-positive advanced ovarian cancer. Lynparza is jointly developed and commercialized by AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) and Merck.
As part of the expansion in Europe, Myriad will license and provide technological support to leading pathology institutes in Germany and France. Additionally, Myriad will support European customers by performing testing out of its clinical laboratory at the company’s global headquarters in Salt Lake City. Also, the institutes in Europe will perform the tests with Myriad’s myChoice CDx PLUS assay. Myriad myChoice CDx PLUS is CE-marked in accordance with the In-Vitro Diagnostic Devices Directive (98/79/EC).
Another collaboration in China provides that Myriad will partner with Burning Rock Biotech, a leader in next generation sequencing technology for precision oncology, to provide myChoice for HRD testing in Phase III clinical studies and clinics throughout China. Myriad will provide Burning Rock with access to its proprietary myChoice technology. The partnership with Burning Rock expands global access to myChoice and positions the test as a preferred developmental companion diagnostic in this important drug development category.
“These new strategic partnerships with leading companies dedicated to advancing the power of precision medicine, reinforce Myriad’s commitment to expanding access to genetic insights for more patients than ever before,” said Nicole Lambert, president of Myriad Genetic Laboratories. “Through close collaboration with innovative laboratories in Europe and with Burning Rock in China, we are bringing the clinical benefits of myChoice testing to additional markets and patients, advancing personalized treatment for patients around the world.”
In August 2020, myChoice was exclusively cited and the only named commercial companion diagnostic by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in new recommendations on the use of PARP inhibitors for the treatment and management of certain patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The new recommendations, based on clinical trial results, were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
About Myriad myChoice
Myriad myChoice is the most comprehensive homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) test, enabling physicians to identify patients with tumors that have lost the ability to repair double-stranded DNA breaks, resulting in increased susceptibility to DNA-damaging drugs such as platinum drugs or PARP inhibitors. The myChoice test comprises tumor sequencing of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and a composite of three proprietary technologies (loss of heterozygosity, telomeric allelic imbalance and large-scale state transitions). For more information, visit: https://myriad-oncology.com/mychoice-cdx/
About Myriad Genetics
Myriad Genetics Inc., is a leading personalized medicine company dedicated to being a trusted advisor transforming patient lives worldwide with pioneering molecular diagnostics. Myriad discovers and commercializes molecular diagnostic tests that: determine the risk of developing disease, accurately diagnose disease, assess the risk of disease progression, and guide treatment decisions across six major medical specialties where molecular diagnostics can significantly improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. Myriad is focused on three strategic imperatives: transitioning and expanding its hereditary cancer testing markets, diversifying its product portfolio through the introduction of new products and increasing the revenue contribution from international markets. For more information on how Myriad is making a difference, please visit the Company’s website: www.myriad.com.
Myriad, the Myriad logo, BART, BRACAnalysis, Colaris, Colaris AP, myPath, myRisk, Myriad myRisk, myRisk Hereditary Cancer, myChoice, myPlan, BRACAnalysis CDx, Tumor BRACAnalysis CDx, myChoice CDx, Vectra, Prequel, Foresight, GeneSight, riskScore and Prolaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and foreign countries. MYGN-F, MYGN-G.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to the Company’s new international collaborations on the myChoice® CDx test, including offering the test to European patients, and partnering with pathology institutes in Europe and Burning Rock in China; and the Company’s strategic directives under the caption “About Myriad Genetics.” These “forward-looking statements” are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: uncertainties associated with COVID-19, including its possible effects on our operations and the demand for our products and services; our ability to efficiently and flexibly manage our business amid uncertainties related to COVID-19; the risk that sales and profit margins of our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services may decline; risks related to our ability to transition from our existing product portfolio to our new tests, including unexpected costs and delays; risks related to decisions or changes in governmental or private insurers’ reimbursement levels for our tests or our ability to obtain reimbursement for our new tests at comparable levels to our existing tests; risks related to increased competition and the development of new competing tests and services; the risk that we may be unable to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services, including our ability to successfully generate revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and any future tests and services are terminated or cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays or other problems with operating our laboratory testing facilities and our healthcare clinic; risks related to public concern over genetic testing in general or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries and changes in the structure of the healthcare system or healthcare payment systems; risks related to our ability to obtain new corporate collaborations or licenses and acquire new technologies or businesses on satisfactory terms, if at all; risks related to our ability to successfully integrate and derive benefits from any technologies or businesses that we license or acquire; risks related to our projections about our business, results of operations and financial condition; risks related to the potential market opportunity for our products and services; the risk that we or our licensors may be unable to protect or that third parties will infringe the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the risk of patent-infringement claims or challenges to the validity of our patents or other intellectual property; risks related to changes in intellectual property laws covering our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and patents or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries, such as the Supreme Court decisions in Mayo Collab. Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012), Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 576 (2013), and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014); risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the United States and internationally; the risk that we may be unable to comply with financial operating covenants under our credit or lending agreements; the risk that we will be unable to pay, when due, amounts due under our credit or lending agreements; and other factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” contained in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Myriad undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.
Media Contact:
Jared Maxwell
(801) 505-5027
[email protected]
Investor Contact:
Scott Gleason
(801) 584-1143
[email protected]