Foundation Medicine (FMI) announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved FoundationFocus CDxBRCA for use as a companion diagnostic to aid in identifying women with ovarian cancer for whom treatment with Rubraca™ (rucaparib), a therapy developed by Clovis Oncology, is being considered.
FoundationFocus CDxBRCA is an FDA-approved tissue-based, genomic assay that uniquely detects tumor BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations (may include both germline (inherited) and somatic (acquired)) in ovarian cancer.
FoundationFocus CDxBRCA may help identify more women who could benefit from Rubraca therapy as compared to conventional testing methods that only identify germline BRCA1/2 mutations. Germline-only BRCA1/2 testing identifies approximately half of all BRCA1/2 mutations.i
Rubraca is a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor indicated as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with deleterious BRCA mutation (germline and/or somatic) associated advanced ovarian cancer who have been treated with two or more chemotherapies, and selected for therapy based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic for Rubraca.
“These simultaneous approvals by the FDA represent a step forward for women with advanced ovarian cancer, an area where there is a tremendous need for effective therapeutic approaches and efficient ways to identify those most likely to respond to PARP inhibitor therapy,” said Michael Pellini, M.D., chief executive officer of Foundation Medicine.
“This approval also represents a significant milestone for Foundation Medicine, one that underscores the quality and value of our molecular information solutions to inform patient care and to accelerate and streamline the therapeutic development programs of our biopharmaceutical partners.”
Foundation Medicine and Clovis Oncology closely collaborated on a regulatory strategy to develop FoundationFocus CDxBRCA in parallel with the development of Rubraca. Tissue samples taken from individuals with ovarian cancer who enrolled in rucaparib clinical trials were analyzed by Foundation Medicine utilizing comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) to identify biomarkers associated with a response to therapy.
These molecular signatures of response informed the development of FoundationFocus CDxBRCA, which was utilized in Clovis’ pivotal trial, ARIEL2, to identify patients and accelerate recruitment into the study. The companies filed concurrent pre-market approval (PMA) and new drug application (NDA) submissions with the FDA earlier this year.
With this FDA approval, FoundationFocus CDxBRCA is the first validated, tissue-based assay developed from the Quality Systems Regulations (QSR)-compliant version of Foundation Medicine’s CGP assay, providing uniform analysis of all BRCA1/2 coding exons.
Dr. Pellini continued, “FDA approval of our first companion diagnostic assay also represents an important advance in our efforts to utilize our rigorously validated CGP approach to deliver a universal companion diagnostic assay.
“We believe this approach may enable the efficient delivery of personalized cancer care by eliminating the guesswork for physicians through a comprehensive view of companion diagnostic claims, as well as potential treatment options based on guidelines, peer reviewed literature and clinical trials.”
As part of the company’s effort to develop a universal companion diagnostic, earlier this year, Foundation Medicine announced that FoundationOne®, the company’s CGP assay for solid tumors, was accepted by the FDA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for Parallel Review.
The FDA also granted Foundation Medicine’s request for review as part of its Expedited Access Pathway for breakthrough devices. If approved, FoundationOne would be an FDA-approved CGP assay that incorporates multiple companion diagnostics to support precision medicine in oncology, including an indication for use as a companion diagnostic across a diverse range of solid tumors, which is anticipated to include ovarian cancer.
More than 22,000 women will potentially be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. during 2016.iii Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of female gynecologic cancer-related deathsiv and one in four women with ovarian cancer have a germline or somatic BRCA mutation.ii