Biocept Inc (NASDAQ:BIOC) and Plus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PSTV) have announced a comprehensive laboratory services agreement for Plus Therapeutics’ ReSPECT-LM trial for the treatment of cancer in the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.
Under the multi-year agreement, Biocept's cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) assay CNSide1 will be employed in Plus Therapeutics' ReSPECT-LM Phase 1/2a dose-escalation clinical trial of Rhenium-186 NanoLiposome (186RNL) for the treatment of patients with leptomeningeal metastases (LM).
Biocept's CNSide assay provides a highly sensitive method to assess and quantify tumor cell burden in LM of the central nervous system, and the assay results will be used to evaluate response to treatment and treatment efficacy for patients enrolling in the ReSPECT-LM clinical trial.
"We see a significant opportunity for Plus Therapeutics to use our CNSide assay to monitor tumor burden in the CSF and response to treatment, and to profile specific cellular biomarkers which may inform their cancer radiotherapeutic drug development activities," Michael Dugan, M.D., Biocept's chief medical officer and medical director said in a statement.
"CNSide has the potential to improve our understanding of therapy response in patients with LM treated with novel therapeutic approaches. This represents an area of very high unmet need in the care of cancer patients with certain forms of brain metastasis that are life-threatening."
READ: Biocept sees 1Q net revenue rise 12% driven by its coronavirus testing services
CNSide is an assay based on Biocept's proprietary quantitative tumor cell capture method paired with advanced digital imaging and molecular markers used to detect, characterize and quantify tumor cells in CSF of patients with a variety of solid organ carcinomas and suspected LM, particularly breast and lung cancer which are leading causes of LM.
CNSide provides a robust quantitative method to evaluate tumor status and response to treatment compared to conventional CSF cytology or radiologic monitoring.
"LM and the therapeutic response to 186RNL can theoretically be assessed through periodic sampling of tumor cells in the CSF," said Norman LaFrance, M.D., chief medical officer and SVP of Plus Therapeutics.
"Every LM patient in the ReSPECT-LM trial will have permanent access to the CSF via an intraventricular catheter placed in the cerebral ventricles before treatment, permitting medical staff to draw CSF as easily as blood.
“The CNSide technology is the most sophisticated and powerful technology available for monitoring tumor status and therapeutic response and can be seamlessly implemented into the ReSPECT-LM trial for the potential benefit of patients with LM."
Biocept develops and commercializes molecular diagnostic assays that provide physicians with clinically actionable information for treating and monitoring patients diagnosed with a variety of cancers.
The company has developed and is commercializing the CNSide cerebrospinal fluid assay that detects cancer cells that have metastasized to the central nervous system.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com