TOKYO, May 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Cancer Center of Japan (“NCC”) today announced the signing of a collaboration between its Cancer Genomic Screening Project for Individualized Medicine (“LC-SCRUM”) and Taiwan’s Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH) -- marking the first international expansion of this groundbreaking genomic project. Under terms of the collaboration, CGMH has joined the SCRUM network of screening hospitals to create a regional cancer genomic screening network (“LC-SCRUM-Asia”) for patients suffering from lung cancer.
LC-SCRUM (Representative: Koichi Goto, Chief, Department of Thoracic Oncology, NCC Hospital East) is a genetic screening project conducted by the NCC in cooperation with over 200 medical institutions and pharmaceutical manufacturers across Japan. Since 2013, LC-SCRUM has performed screening of treatment target genes in over 7,000 lung cancer patients and contributed to the development of multiple novel therapeutics in Japan.
LC-SCRUM-Asia strives to provide genomic screening on a regional scale and accelerate the development of innovative cancer therapies based on increasing understanding of the genetic alterations. It is also expected to serve as the cornerstone for an Asian genomic screening platform targeting all tumor types through the business development efforts of PREMIA INC.
Background
With recent advances in genomic analysis technology such as next generation sequencing (NGS), progress is being made in establishing genomic cancer medicine, whereby effective therapies are selected based on the results of genomic analysis of each individual patient. In addition to molecular targeted drugs targeting the EGFR gene mutation and the ALK fusion gene, new molecular targeted therapies have been approved in Japan: a drug targeting the ROS1 fusion gene in 2017 and a drug targeting the BRAF gene mutation in 2018. Progress is also being made in the development of a variety of treatments targeting changes in genes such as MET, RET, HER2 and NTRK, and work on establishing genomic medicine for lung cancer is expected to accelerate further in the future. However, each of these genomic alterations is rare, with a frequency of 1% to 2% of all non-small cell lung cancers, and rapid development of therapies based on clinical studies requires cooperation not only within Japan but also from other countries, in order to establish a large-scale international genomic screening infrastructure.
About LC-SCRUM-Japan
LC-SCRUM-Japan is a genomic screening project conducted by the National Cancer Center Japan in cooperation with medical institutions and pharmaceutical manufacturers across the country. The organization has performed screening of target genes in lung cancer patients continuously since 2013 and has enrolled over 7,000 patients as of the end of January 2019. Academia and industry work together as a single organization to further development of new drugs and diagnostics, with the aim of establishing personalized medicine for lung cancer. Additional information is available at http://www.scrum-japan.ncc.go.jp/lc_scrum/index.html.
About Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH)
Founded in 1978, CGMH provides one of the largest and most comprehensive health care systems in Taiwan, with a total 10,050 beds in seven branch hospitals across the island nation. CGMH is also the largest academic center accredited by the Joint Commission International [JCI (2014-2017)]. Having been featured in National Geographic Channel's documentary, "Taiwan's Medical Miracle," CGMH’s medical achievements are both nationally and internationally acclaimed.
About PREMIA Inc.
Established in 2018, PREMIA’s corporate mission is to accelerate novel cancer therapeutic and diagnostic product development by providing an efficient clinical development platform in Asia. It also serves as the international business development partner for LC-SCRUM. Additional information is available at www.premia-inc.com.
Contact:
Vivian Liu
PREMIA Inc.
VLiu@premia-inc.com