Quanterix Corp, Lexington, Mass, a company digitizing biomarker analysis with the goal of advancing the science of precision health, recently announced the launch of its Simoa SP-X imaging and detection system, 10-plex Simoa CorPlex cytokine panel, and a broad menu of additional multiplex panels.
According to the company, the new instrument platform and validated CorPlex assays promise to revolutionize oncology research and drug development. Progress made since the company’s early access program was initiated in early November 2018 has validated the performance and promise of the technology, resulting in an accelerated timeline for full launch. The company is now taking orders for shipping by April 1, 2019.
For the first time, researchers are able to access more than a thousand assay configurations of critical immunomodulatory biomarkers for oncology research, with multiplexing up to 10-plex, without sacrificing sensitivity. The broad assay menu covers more than 50 analytes and enables researchers to easily develop custom homebrew assays, further extending the range of applications to include pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling studies as well as immunogenicity assays.
Simoa CorPlex assays undergo extensive validation, ensuring customers can utilize the assays in the most demanding clinical and translational research applications. The next-generation Simoa planar array technology utilized in CorPlex assays promotes noninvasive biomarker measurements, supporting easier and more approachable methods for determining drug efficacy and toxicity. Such an approach addresses the previously unmet needs of oncology researchers, particularly in the rapidly expanding fields of immunooncology and immunotherapy, including checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapies.
Kevin Hrusovsky, Quanterix.
“Immunooncology-based treatments have long shown tremendous promise for improving how we treat cancers, but researchers have lacked reliable methods to test the efficacy and toxicity of those treatments early in therapeutic intervention,” says Kevin Hrusovsky, chief executive officer, president, and chairman of Quanterix. “The ability to monitor the interaction of the patient immune system and tumor biology by measuring multiple analytes simultaneously is critical but has not been possible with sufficient sensitivity until now. The SP-X instrument with CorPlex assays marks the latest addition to our ultrasensitive product portfolio, supplying researchers with the tools they need to determine whether immunotherapies are having the desired effect at the earliest stages of the disease, saving resources and, ultimately, lives.”
While immunotherapies have gained traction as a promising way to treat many cancers, the inability to optimize dosing and the occurrence of immune-related adverse events have hindered progress. Critical biomarkers that would enable researchers to make informed decisions with respect to dosing and toxicities are often at such low concentrations that reliable measurement has been problematic until now.
With Simoa CorPlex assays, researchers can measure concentrations of key circulating cytokines and immunological biomarkers across all stages of disease progression, including normal healthy baseline levels. This means that researchers will be able to more quickly see whether the immunotherapy or other cancer treatments are working, or potentially avoid severe side effects such as neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome. Simoa CorPlex assays could have the potential to catalyze dramatic reductions in treatment costs, which could amount to several hundred thousand dollars a year.
General availability of Simoa CorPlex assays is made possible by the SP-X imaging and detection system, Quanterix’s new, state-of-the-art benchtop imager that utilizes a proprietary planar array technology, offering advanced multiplexing capabilities with the same Simoa sensitivity found in the company’s HD-1 and SR-X instruments. Building on the success of Quanterix’s flagship Simoa technology, the SP-X and Simoa CorPlex assays are meeting the needs of oncology researchers with the goal of revolutionizing patient care.
For further information, visit Quanterix.
