Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (Ventana; Tucson, AZ, USA), a member of the Roche Group, announced it has co-exclusively sublicensed patents from Gen-Probe Incorporated (GPRO; San Diego, CA), giving the company in vitro diagnostic (IVD) rights for measuring ETS Related Gene (ERG) protein expression through immunohistochemistry (IHC) in prostate tissue.

Ventana manufactures instruments and reagents for automating tissue processing and slide staining for cancer diagnostics. The company’s ERG assays for its BenchMark line of automated instrumentation include a global ERG IVD test for measuring ERG via immunohistochemical staining and a CE-marked IVD assay for measuring ERG gene rearrangements using Quantum Dot (FISH). The company believes that ERG testing will play a pivotal role in predicting and diagnosing prostate cancer, according to Mara G. Aspinall, president, Ventana.

"This license gives us a unique position for this important biomarker as we see the opportunity to incorporate the ERG marker into VENTANA assays that can benefit hundreds of thousands of prostate cancer patients each year," explained Ms. Aspinall.

Prostate cancer is currently the highest incidence cancer in the United States and Western Europe. As such, there is an increased need for improved assays to diagnose and treat the disease. ERG, a known oncogene, rearranges and fuses with androgen response elements, a process that occurs in nearly 50 percent of prostate cancer patients.

According to Mark A. Rubin, MD, Hormer T. Hirst, professor of oncology in pathology, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, and New York Presbyterian Hospital, ERG testing will help clinicians in defining elements associated with prostate cancer to provide better medical care for patients.

"We are extremely enthusiastic to see the rapid development of robust clinical tests to determine the ERG rearrangement status in patient samples," said Dr. Rubin. "Emerging molecular and clinical data strongly support the view that prostate cancer is a collection of molecularly distinct diseases that will have different disease trajectories and responses to treatment. Accurately defining the ERG rearrangement class, the largest molecular subclass known to date, is a critical step towards precision health care for prostate cancer."


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