Clavis to develop companion diagnostic for AML
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Norwegian firm Clavis Pharma is to develop a test to detect and quantify human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1) in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients. The standard drug treatment for AML is cytarabine, but the entry of cytarabine into tumour cells depends on the expression of membrane transporter proteins, particularly hENT1. Clavis Pharma (Oslo, Norway) is developing a derivative of cytarabine called elacytarabine which can be taken up by cells regardless of hENT1 expression level. Thus, patients with low expression of the biomarker may be better treated with Clavis's drug rather than the standard therapy. Development of a flow cytometry test for hENT1 will be funded by a NOK14m ($2.5m) grant Clavis has received from The Research Council of Norway. The grant will cover up to 35% of the total project cost, Clavis says.