Molecular information company Foundation Medicine has extended its pilot program with Novartis to provide comprehensive genomic analysis in support of Novartis' clinical oncology programs.

The pilot program, established 18 months, ago has generated very interesting data, and this type of tumor genomic profiling has become an essential component of Novartis' clinical trials. In the extended collaboration, Novartis plans to use Foundation's molecular information platform across many of its phase I and II oncology clinical programs. Novartis will run Foundation's comprehensive genomic profiling on most phase I and II clinical trial enrollees over the next three year, with the aim of accelerating the development of Novartis' broad portfolio of targeted cancer therapeutics and ultimately expand treatment options for patients.

"The comprehensive molecular assessment of Novartis' oncology clinical trial samples is expected to help to bring potentially lifesaving therapies to the right patients more quickly, and we expect that the wealth of molecular information will help fundamentally improve the way cancer is understood and treated," said Michael J. Pellini, M.D., president and CEO, Foundation Medicine. "We are pleased to see our collaboration mature into a significant relationship between Foundation Medicine and Novartis."

Foundation uses clinical-grade, next-generation sequencing to rapidly analyze hundreds of cancer-related genes from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor samples in a CLIA-certified environment. Novartis plans to use these capabilities in an effort to align trial enrollment and outcome analysis with the genomic profile of individual patient tumors to drive development of new cancer treatments. Foundation may develop additional diagnostic products resulting from the Novartis collaboration.