QIAGEN N.V. and OncXerna Therapeutics, Inc. announced signing a master companion diagnostics (CDx) agreement to develop a NGS CDx for OncXerna’s product candidate, Navicixizumab, and a non-exclusive license to the Xerna™ TME panel. QIAGEN and OncXerna have agreed to collaborate to advance the Xerna™ TME panel towards IVD (in-vitro diagnostic) regulatory approval as a NGS companion diagnostic for Navicixizumab, which is being developed by OncXerna as a treatment for patients with ovarian cancer. The diagnostic will be used to determine if patients with ovarian cancer whose dominant tumor biology is driven by angiogenesis are more likely to benefit from treatment with Navicixizumab. The Xerna™ TME panel uses proprietary RNA-based gene expression data and a machine learning-based algorithm to classify patients based on the dominant biology of their cancer so that patients can be matched with therapies that directly address these biologies. Pursuant to the non-exclusive license, which is for research use only (“RUO”) and clinical development programs, OncXerna has granted QIAGEN the rights to integrate the Xerna™ TME panel into their NGS workflow solutions, which broadens QIAGEN’s NGS CDx custom panel development capabilities. QIAGEN is a pioneer in Precision Medicine and the global leader in collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to co-develop companion diagnostics, which detect clinically relevant genetic abnormalities to provide insights that guide clinical decision-making in diseases such as cancer. QIAGEN has an unmatched depth and breadth of technologies from next-generation sequencing (NGS) to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for companion diagnostic development. QIAGEN has ten PCR based companion diagnostic indications that are FDA approved, including therascreen EGFR for non-small cell lung cancer, therascreen KRAS for colorectal cancer, therascreen FGFR for urothelial cancer, therascreen PIK3CA for breast cancer based on tissue or plasma samples and the therascreen BRAF kit for colorectal cancer. Currently, QIAGEN is working under master collaboration agreements with more than 25 companies to develop and commercialize companion diagnostic tests for their drug candidates – a deep pipeline of potential future products to advance Precision Medicine for the benefit of patients.