Eli Lilly and Dako sign collaboration agreement

24 January, 2013

The two companies plan to collaborate in developing a companion diagnostic test to an investigational cancer therapy currently under development by Eli Lilly.

In a recent press release, Denmark-based Dako – part of Agilent Technologies since June 2012 – announced the establishment of a ‘master framework agreement’ with pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. The pair plan to collaborate in the development of a diagnostic test to identify patients who would most benefit from an anticancer agent currently being developed by Lilly.

Oncological care is moving towards ‘personalized medicine’, where anticancer agents are matched to individual patients. Therefore, ‘companion diagnostics’ such as these, which indicate whether a patient would benefit from a certain therapy, are more in demand. As Greg Zdechlik, Chief Operating Officer of diagnostics at Lilly, explained, “Tailored therapies are a key component of Lilly’s strategy of providing improved outcomes for individual patients.”

Dako produce oncological diagnostic tests for hospitals and research laboratories, bringing their expertise in this area to the collaboration. Zdechlik continues, “We look forward to collaborating with Dako in an effort to develop oncology companion diagnostics for patients worldwide who are waiting.”

Chief Executive Officer of Dako, Lars Holmkvist, commented on the announcement, “Building lasting partnerships is a cornerstone to Dako. I warmly welcome Lilly, and I am excited about what we may accomplish together for the benefit of patients worldwide. This agreement heralds our mutual commitment to fighting cancer.”

Source: Dako enters collaboration with Eli Lilly and company for development of companion diagnostics.