Biotechnology firm AVATAMED and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research have set up a joint lab in Biopolis, the city-state's biotechnology hub.

WHY IT MATTERS

Aiming to enhance treatment outcome for cancer patients, the joint service lab will offer both drug screening solutions of IMCB and AVATAMED to oncologists and pharmaceutical companies.

AVATAMED, a spin-off company from A*STAR, has developed the AVATASCAN, an automated drug screening system, that determines the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs in patient-derived tumour samples. The company provides oncologists genetic data and drug-response results to suggest drug treatment options.

The AVATASCAN can also be used by pharmaceutical firms to accelerate their drug development "through a more targeted approach".

Precision oncology, as described by AVATAMED, "provides targeted treatment for individual cancer patients based on their clinical, tumour and genetic profiles".

"This approach has helped many patients whose tumours do not respond to the standard-of-care treatments, have limited treatment options or have become resistant to the anti-cancer drugs," it said.

THE LARGER TREND

In October last year, AVATAMED teamed up with Macrogen, a South Korean precision medicine firm, to develop and market a new service platform that combines its drug screening solution with the latter's genomic analysis capability.

In other news, a research report by Accenture published in April revealed the low adoption of precision oncology among 130 oncologists surveyed in the US and Europe despite that most of them agree that it will be an important part of the clinical environment in the years to come.

According to the report, three key factors that will enable greater adoption of precision oncology include real-world data, Clinical Decision Support tools and evolved precision oncology education.

ON THE RECORD

"IMCB's joint lab with AVATAMED will support Singapore's move towards precision medicine-based treatments for better health outcomes. It also showcases our efforts in nurturing innovative local enterprises to drive economic growth," IMCB Executive Director Prof. Hong Wanjin said in a statement.

"Precision medicine is the future, and we want to bring AVATASCAN to benefit patients and the industry. We are excited to embark on this journey with A*STAR," AVATAMED CEO Toh Hong Boon also said.