Burning Rock, Merck KGaA Collaborate On Liquid-biopsy Based CDx Development Using OncoCompass Target

(RTTNews) - Burning Rock Biotech Limited (BNR) said that it has partnered with Merck KGaA, in companion diagnostics or CDx development for the MET inhibitor tepotinib in the mainland China market.

The CDx test is based on Burning Rock's self-developed next generation sequencing (NGS)-based liquid biopsy solution, OncoCompass Target panel.

Tepotinib is an oral MET inhibitor that inhibits the oncogenic MET receptor signaling caused by MET (gene) alterations. Discovered and developed in-house at Merck KGaA, tepotinib has a highly selective mechanism of action, with the potential to improve outcomes in aggressive tumors that have a poor prognosis and harbor these specific alterations.

Tepotinib was the first oral MET inhibitor to receive a regulatory approval anywhere in the world for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring MET gene alterations, with its approval in Japan in March 2020 under the brand name TEPMETKO.