Myriad and Intermountain Healthcare to Collaborate on Molecular Diagnostics

(Myriad; Salt Lake City, UT, USA), a molecular diagnostics company, and Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City, UT, USA), a nonprofit organization that provides affordable medical care, have signed a collaborative research agreement to study molecular diagnostic tests developed by Myriad.

The first project under the collaboration, PRO 008, is intended to determine the efficacy of Myriad’s Prolaris test by analyzing the biopsy samples of 200 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Prolaris test measures the expression level of genes involved with cell cycle progression to predict the outcome of a disease in patients. The study will assess whether the Prolaris test can accurately predict which subjects have a higher risk of biochemical recurrence in order to determine when to employ aggressive medical care.

Intermountain Healthcare and Myriad are both dedicated to improving quality of life for patients, and are looking forward to the partnership. According to Brent Wallace, MD, chief medical officer, Intermountain Healthcare, the organization is “[…] thrilled to be partnering with Myriad to further research across a number of diseases in an effort to improve patient care."

"We look forward to embarking on our prostate cancer collaboration with Myriad and hope the findings from this study will help define the clinical benefit of the Prolaris test. This will assist in helping men diagnosed with prostate cancer to understand the aggressiveness of their disease and make better informed decisions about appropriate treatment," added Dr. Wallace.

Peter Meldrum, president and CEO, Myriad, also believes the collaboration will lead to improved treatment for patients. Mr. Meldrum asserts, “This research collaboration will have great potential to help patients by furthering research on molecular diagnostic tests, which can assist healthcare providers to effectively guide treatment decisions and determine the risk of disease progression and recurrence.”


Related Links:

Myriad Genetics, Inc.
Intermountain Healthcare