They did gene testing on tumors from 113 colon patients who had previously taken either Erbitux or Vectibix.
The flashy new industry of personalized gene testing is experiencing some early blowback.
Some commentators argue that the wild-west business of gene testing needs more regulation, lest abuses discredit the whole industry before it has a chance to thrive.
Equinome maintains a strict policy of confidentiality with its clients, but Ryan did reveal that the first horses bred following speed-gene testing are already racing professionally.
It will be a little like Napster for gene testing.
FORBES: Do-It-Yourself Gene Testing Threatens Myriad's Monopoly
Biomedical engineers, for instance, are in great demand by device makers who produce things like artificial limbs and imagining machines, and companies looking to do gene testing and to make new drugs.
Few gene-testing studies yield the sort of clear-cut results seen in the case of kras, Erbitux and Vectibix.
The company's most advanced heart drug is stalled, its gene-testing business faces all sorts of competition, and it is running out of cash fast.
Over the last six months, New York State's Department of Health has sent letters raising the specter of fines and jail time to six online gene-testing firms that offer consumers the ability to peer into their genome to assess their future risk of getting diseases such as cancer, heart disease and multiple sclerosis.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: MLNM - news - people ) and Abbott, for instance, are already in the early stages of human testing on a gene-derived medicine that helps control appetite.
As evidence, he points to the case of cystic fibrosis: unlike breast cancer, no monopoly patent blocks access to the relevant gene, and dozens of rival testing companies flourish.
Availability of a gene test to predict response could speed testing of the drug for less-advanced cases.
How many gene mutations are missed by current genetic testing?
There are hundreds of targeted cancer drugs in testing, and dozens upon dozens of possible gene mutations could have an impact on whether a drug works.
Ms. Jolie said that after genetic testing she learned she carries the "faulty" BRCA1 gene and had an 87% chance of getting the disease herself.
Jolie said that after genetic testing she learned she carries the "faulty" BRCA1 gene and had an 87 percent chance of getting the disease herself.
There are dozens of targeted drugs in testing, but each may work only on subsets of patients with certain gene alterations.
But it certainly is doing lots of novel science, including testing a vaccine for the biggest killer of children worldwide and e xotic new gene therapy.
At HGS seven gene-based drugs have entered trials, but most remain in the earlier stages of clinical testing.
If his approach catches in a few years from now when gene scanning becomes cheap and easily available, it could herald a new era of do-it-yourself genetic testing.
FORBES: Do-It-Yourself Gene Testing Threatens Myriad's Monopoly
应用推荐