ANGLE PLC has announced a new commercial agreement with AstraZeneca PLC to develop and validate a methodology leveraging ANGLE's existing DNA damage response ("DDR") assay for the detection of micronuclei in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) as a measure of DDR. The 6-month development phase is worth an initial £150,000 to ANGLE. This agreement marks ANGLE's second large pharma company agreement of 2024, demonstrating the importance of CTC analysis and validating ANGLE's Parsortix system.

The DDR assay has the potential to be used as a repeatable, minimally invasive means to better understand the DDR pathway to enable the development of therapies capable of targeting tumor-specific DDR dependencies to preferentially kill cancer cells. It may also have the potential for monitoring treatment response to DDR therapies administered in combination with other cancer drugs.

ANGLE's Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Newland, highlighted the significance of this agreement, stating, "This is ANGLE's second large pharma company agreement of 2024 as we look to drive a significant expansion of the pharma services business. It demonstrates the importance of CTC analysis and is a validation of ANGLE's Parsortix system."

The DDR therapeutics market was estimated to be valued at US$5.9 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach US$10.4 billion by 2031 with a CAGR of 6.5%. This growth is expected to be driven by an increase in the use of combination therapy for the treatment of drug-resistant cancers and the need for novel targeted medicines for cancer treatment.

ANGLE's Chief Scientific Officer, Karen Miller, expressed delight in the company's expertise in CTC assay development, stating, "With the increasing investigation of DNA damage response / PARP inhibitors, alone or in combination with chemotherapy or immunotherapy, there is a need for minimally invasive, robust and repeatable DDR assays."

The agreement with AstraZeneca represents a significant step for ANGLE in expanding its pharma services business and further solidifying its position as a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative CTC solutions for use in research, drug development, and clinical oncology.