This new kit now increases the clinical claims for KRAS from metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC)  to include also FFPE samples from Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

This claim extension is based on results from Phase III trials on advanced NSCLC patients.   

This new kit strengthen QIAGEN PHC strategy and positioning of continuously bringing to the market clinically proven and clinically validated IVD products to help pathologists and clinicians to provide the best medicine for their patients.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death globally. It kills more people than breast, colorectal and prostate cancers combined. NSCLC accounts for 85 percent of all lung cancer cases, and around 246,000 and around 400,000 news cases were diagnosed in 2014 in the US and in EU respectively.
 
Key Biomarkers in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Several biomarkers have been identified in NSCLC. KRAS mutations represent the most common molecular change in NSCLC and the presence of KRAS mutations has been shown to be associated with a poor prognosis in NSCLC. The KRAS gene is a driver mutation in about 25% to 30% of NSCLC cases. This is why there is highest interest to develop anti-KRAS drugs for NSCLC.

This new kit completes the current NSCLC QIAGEN product offerings, like therascreen EGFR RGQ PCR kit for detection of EGFR mutations to guide treatment decisions with EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and the upcoming CE-IVD therascreen ALK RT-PCR Kit detecting ALK rearrangement expressions for treatment with ALK-targeted inhibitors.

EGFR mutations and ALK rearrangements are today the only available targets for personalized therapies in NSCLC employing drugs such as gefitinib, afatinib or crizotinib. In parallel many trials are conducted for targeted therapies for KRAS mutant NSCLC patients. These drugs will hit the market in coming years.