TrovaGene Inks Partnership With USC Norris Cancer Center

TrovaGene Inc. (NASDAQ:TROV) is leaving no stone unturned to popularize its Trovera liquid biopsy system among cancer centers and academic institutions. The company recently inked a partnership with the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, which aims at building a standardized framework for the use of the Trovera system.

Built upon TrovaGene’s Precision Cancer Monitoring (PCM) platform, Trovera urine and blood-based EGFR, KRAS and BRAF tests are available to oncologists for the detection and monitoring of cancerous tumors.

The collaboration will focus to “define practical considerations and best practices for liquid biopsy testing from urine.” TrovaGene and USC Morris partnership will also investigate the possibilities of developing clinical treatment algorithms that will identify and determine the proper utilization of liquid biopsy testing.

The latest partnership follows the recently announced collaboration with the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center to conduct a multi-phased research program using Trovera KRAS ctDNA liquid biopsy test. The research program will utilize Trovera for early detection and monitoring of patient response to pancreatic cancer therapy.

These back-to-back partnerships reflect TrovaGene’s continued focus on expanding the market opportunity for Trovera. Moreover, the company’s partnerships with different health insurance providers like Stratose, Fortified Provider Network, Multiplan, FedMed and America's Choice Provider Network will also help in fast adoption of the Trovera system.

Clinical Development Programs/Publications

TrovaGene continues to present and publish clinical data and study results in 2016. The company presented data at the 2016 European Molecular Diagnostics Conference and the Molecular Med-Tri Conference as well as the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting.

The clinical study results demonstrated effectiveness of the company’s precision cancer monitoring platform as an important disease management tool in lung, colorectal and pancreatic cancer patients.

At the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual Meeting, TrovaGene presented clinical results demonstrating the effectiveness of its Trovera non-invasive test in detecting EGFR T790M mutations in the urine of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The presentation showed that urine and plasma tests identified EGFR T790M mutations which tissue tests failed to spot. This is probably due to tumor heterogeneity or inadequate sample quality. Moreover, response rate to therapy, duration of response and progression-free survival of patients positive for T790M in urine was similar to patients who tested positive for T790M in plasma or tissue.

TrovaGene also noted the publication of the first manuscript with a peer-reviewed paper in the oncology journal Cancer Discovery.

The first paper highlighted PCM platform’s ability to confirm BRAF V600E mutational status and to quantitatively assess changes in urinary circulating tumor DNA. The paper concluded that PCM can be used to determine response to novel therapy combining both a BRAF inhibitor and a MEK inhibitor to treat colorectal neuroendocrine tumors.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

TrovaGene has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks include Enzo Biochem (NYSE:ENZ) , Fibrocell Science (NASDAQ:FCSC) and Innoviva (NASDAQ:INVA) . All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).