• Introduction
  • Why Almac?
  • People
  • Facilities
• Biomarker Discovery and Validation
  • Companion Diagnostics
  • Pharmacodynamic Biomarkers
  • Prognostic tests
  • Drug Repositioning
  • Consultancy
• Bioinformatics Solutions
  • Our Approach
  • Solutions
  • People and Experience
  • Tools and Innovation
• Genomic services
  • Gene Expression and SNP analysis
  • qPCR and cell line modelling
  • Bioinformatics
• Proprietary Discovery Arrays
  • Unique Content
  • Work with FFPE and fresh frozen tissue
  • Discover Targets, signatures and answers
• Resources
  • Technical Documentation
  • Posters and presentations
  • Publications

Companion Diagnostics

Advancements in technology and expertise are now enabling the development of predictive tests or companion diagnostics and the provision of more effective and targeted treatment for patients.

The advent of targeted molecular therapies for cancer, results in the development of highly effective drugs for selected patients or risk groups. The most common examples of this includes the development of Trastuzumab (Herceptin™) and the identification of the HER2 protein as biomarker for targeted breast cancer treatment and Panitumumab (Vectibix) for the treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer.

Our Approach:

• At Almac we utilise our expertise and experience to discover and validate predictive biomarkers and develop these into tests from both frozen and FFPE samples allowing for retrospective analysis, which can potentially reduce development times by many years.
• The two main approaches in the development of predictive tests are through the identification of:
  • Gene Signatures
  • Biological pathways of response