LONDON: ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL), a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology has signed a supplier agreement with the global biopharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca PLC, to develop and validate a methodology leveraging ANGLE’s existing DNA damage response (“DDR”) assay for the detection of micronuclei in CTCs as a measure of DDR.

Under the agreement, ANGLE will develop a novel methodology for CTC micronuclei detection based on its existing pKAP1 CTC-based DDR assay, which measures expression of a key protein in the DNA damage response. Assay development will take place in ANGLE’s laboratories in Guildford, UK, and follows the Company’s development and launch of two highly sensitive and specific DDR assays in 2023.  The 6-month development phase is worth an initial £150,000 to ANGLE.

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

ANGLE Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Newland, commented: “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. ANGLE is also working to expand its DDR work with other large pharma customers and continues to generate significant new customer interest through its business development activity.”

ANGLE Chief Scientific Officer, Karen Miller commented: “We are delighted that our expertise in CTC assay development continues to make great strides. 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. All the development work continues to add to the menu of assays owned by ANGLE that we can offer to other customers.”

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%1. This 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. Most cancers rely on the DDR pathway to a greater extent than healthy cells. Treating patients with a DDR inhibitor alongside another cancer drug helps to maximise DNA damage and selectively kill cancer cells. This provides a targeted approach to cancer treatment with the potential to improve patient outcomes across multiple tumour types.

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