Warnex Offers New Personalized Medicine Service: K-ras Mutation Analysis For Colorectal Cancer

Main Category: Colorectal Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 04 Feb 2009 - 6:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Warnex Inc. (TSX:WNX) announced today that its Medical Laboratories division now offers a new test in the field of personalized medicine: K-ras mutation analysis for patients with colorectal cancer.

"Personalized medicine significantly improves medical care. Using information obtained from a patient's genetic profile, healthcare professionals can tailor their medical treatment to the individual patient's needs," said Mark Busgang, President and CEO of Warnex. "Warnex's mutation analysis of the K-ras gene provides valuable information to evaluate a patient's response to specific treatments for colorectal cancer."

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer in Canada. On average, 413 Canadians will be diagnosed and 171 Canadians will die of colorectal cancer every week. Colorectal cancer, also called colon cancer or large bowel cancer, includes cancerous growths in the colon, rectum and appendix. Many colorectal cancers are thought to arise from polyps in the colon. These growths are usually benign, but some may develop into cancer over time.

Current treatment strategies for colorectal cancer include therapy targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). However, studies have shown that a mutation in the K-ras gene gives rise to resistance to anti-EGFR therapy. The incidence of K-ras mutations is about 40% in colorectal cancer tumours. K-ras mutation analysis provides physicians with valuable information while evaluating the use of EGFR targeting compounds.

The American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recently released an opinion recommending routine K-ras gene testing to guide treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer.

About Warnex

Warnex is a life sciences company devoted to protecting public health by providing laboratory services to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Warnex's analytical services division provides pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with a variety of quality control services, including traditional chemistry, chromatography, microbiology, method development and validation, and stability studies. Warnex's bioanalytical services division specializes in bioequivalence and bioavailability studies for clinical trials. Warnex's medical laboratories division focuses on genetic and biochemical testing for the healthcare industry and has extensive expertise in genetic testing for human identification, molecular diagnostics, and pharmacogenetics.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release are forward-looking and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown. For information identifying known risks and uncertainties, relating to financial resources, government regulations, laboratory facilities, suppliers, employees, key customers and business partners, foreign currency risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, volatility of share price, and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the heading Risks and Uncertainties in Warnex's most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis, which can be found at http://www.sedar.com. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results expressed in these forward-looking statements.

Warnex

• Additional
• References
• Citations