Foundation Medicine, a molecular information company, and Agios Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, have formed a multi-year diagnostic partnership for Agios' lead programs in cancer metabolism.

The programs focus on developing new cancer metabolism inhibitors targeting tumors carrying mutations in either the IDH1 or IDH2 metabolic enzymes. Foundation Medicine and Agios are collaborating to identify tumor genomic alterations that can be used to identify which patients are most likely to respond to Agios' IDH1 and IDH2 drug candidates, and to develop and potentially commercialize diagnostic products for these programs. 

"Our lead IDH1 and IDH2 programs demonstrate Agios' ability to leverage deep understanding of cancer metabolism to design first-in-class cancer medicines for genetically defined patient populations," said David Schenkein, M.D., CEO of Agios. "As we prepare to enter the clinic, Foundation Medicine provides us with the most advanced genomic profiling and analytical expertise in the industry. This collaboration will further expand our insights on how best to target IDH mutations therapeutically and will help us in our mission to bring important new drugs to patients with cancer."

Michael J. Pellini, M.D., CEO of Foundation Medicine, said, "Agios is forging a new and different path to cancer treatment by targeting cancer metabolism. Foundation Medicine's comprehensive cancer genomic profile helps match a patient's individual molecular alterations with relevant targeted therapies. For this reason, it is important for us to partner with innovative biopharmaceutical companies like Agios to help expand the number of targeted therapies available and open new treatment options for patients."