Adicon offers liquid biopsy tests from Guardant Health to accelerate development of new cancer therapies in China

GH AMEA

September 26, 2023

HANGZHOU, China (Sep 26, 2023) — Adicon Holdings Limited, a leading independent clinical laboratory company, recently announced that it now offers liquid biopsy tests from Guardant Health, a leading precision oncology company, to advance clinical research and the development of new cancer therapies in China. The blood-based tests provide biopharmaceutical companies with access to comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP), also known as tumour mutation profiling, in patients with advanced solid cancers to support investigational drug studies.

“As a leading independent clinical laboratory platform in China, Shanghai Jince Clinical Laboratories is committed to expanding our company’s diagnostic testing capabilities and services,” said Song Gao, CEO of Adicon. “We are delighted to work with Guardant Health to bring cutting-edge CGP testing to support clinical research and drug development in China.”

In 2020 alone, over 4.5 million people in China were diagnosed with cancer.¹ Lung cancer was the most common cancer diagnosed in men, with nearly 540,000 cases, and breast cancer was the most common among women, with more than 400,000 diagnoses.¹ For these cancers in advanced stage, the Guardant tests can help identify patients whose cancer has the right genomic alterations for a specific clinical trial, and better monitor their response to investigational drugs. This accelerates the clinical development process and brings life-saving treatment options to patients sooner.

Guardant360 and GuardantOMNI are next-generation sequencing tests that analyse ctDNA produced when tumours shed small pieces of their genetic material into the bloodstream. The tests provide comprehensive genomic results from a simple blood draw, helping researchers move beyond the limitations of tissue biopsies to obtain clinically relevant information for drug development and investigational trials.

Guardant360 has become widely accepted for blood-based comprehensive genomic profiling with more than 400 peer-reviewed publications. It has been used by more than 12,000 oncologists, with more than 500,000 tests performed to date. Globally, Guardant Health has contracted with over 160 biopharma companies to support their efforts in bringing the next generation of cancer therapeutics to patients sooner. The Guardant360 CDx test was the first blood test to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for comprehensive genomic profiling for all solid tumours.

“We are pleased to work with Adicon to make our liquid biopsy technology available to our biopharma clients to address unmet cancer needs in China and bring new targeted cancer therapies to patients more quickly,” said Simranjit Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Guardant Health Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA). “These tests help researchers identify patients whose cancer has the right molecular profile for their clinical programs, streamlining patient screening and clinical trial enrolment, and also providing insights into patient response, tumour evolution and resistance.”

There were nearly 900 oncology clinical trials in China as of 2021, according to the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, providing significant opportunity for comprehensive liquid biopsies to support drug development.

About Adicon

Adicon is one of the top three independent clinical laboratory, or ICL. We offer comprehensive and best-in-class testing services primarily to hospitals and health check centres as well as central laboratory services to biopharma clients and contract research organizations through an integrated network of 33 self-operated laboratories across China. As of December 31, 2022, 18 of our laboratories were accredited by ISO15189, which enabled us to provide customers with the quality assurance that comes with this rigorous international standard. Our testing portfolio consists of over 4,000 medical diagnostic tests, including over 1,700 routine tests and over 2,300 esoteric tests, as of December 31, 2022. We are committed to continuously serving patients and the general public with our high-quality testing services as a leading ICL service provider in China and becoming a trusted and reliable partner for medical professionals and the general public.

Reference

GLOBOCAN 2020 statistics available at https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/populations/160-china-fact-sheets.pdf accessed on 11 September 2023

Launch Event Details

Experts gather at the launch of Guardant Health’s tests in China

With the theme of “Walking together with one heart – Guardant Health and Adicon”, this product launch event was attended by experts and industry leaders to explore opportunities in the healthcare industry.

At the event, Ms. Ling Yang, Chairman of Adicon, delivered a speech via video. Ms. Ling Yang said that the strong alliance between Adicon and Guardant Health can complement each other’s advantages, comprehensively improve Adicon’s service capabilities to Chinese pharmaceutical companies, multi-national pharmaceutical companies and contract research organization (CRO) customers, help accelerate the research and development of oncology drugs of biopharmaceutical companies in China, and promote the development of precision oncology and cancer treatment in China.

Guardant Health’s precision oncology technology, market demand for liquid biopsy and clinical applications were discussed at the Adicon and Guardant Health product launch event. Dr. Herbert Loong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ms. Xiaohui Cui, Biomarker IVD Director from Gilead Science, Mr. Justin Odegaard, Vice President of Product Management from Guardant Health, Inc., Mr. Xuebin Liu, Senior Vice President Pre-Clinical R&D from InxMed, shared their views at the launch event. The keynote speeches entitled “Use of ctDNA as a biomarker in cancer clinical trials”, “CDx assist MNC in clinical development and launch of new drugs in China”, “The clinical value of liquid biopsy in multi-regional clinical trials”, “R&D strategies for tumour drug-resistant metastasis from the perspective of translational medicine research” showcased the value of liquid biopsy in the clinical research of tumour drugs from different perspectives.

Leaders from Adicon and Guardant Health jointly took the stage to announce the launch of the Guardant360^® test in China.

In order to discuss the development of companion diagnostics and future directions, industry representatives from Adicon, Guardant Health and domestic biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies were also invited to conduct roundtable discussions on the topics of “Regulatory Policy and Registration Strategy of CDx for Global” and “MNC & Biotech: Cooperation and innovation, mutual benefit and win-win”.

At the event, Mr. Zhihan Wang, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Chief Financial Officer from Adicon Medical Laboratory Center, and Mr. Mok Chun Yip, Head of China from Guardant Health AMEA, expressed their high confidence in the application prospects of Guardant Health’s tests in China, and hoped that the cooperation between the two companies can accelerate innovation and promote clinical research and new drug development in China.