Ventana paves the way for companion diagnostic early phase clinical trials in China to advance patient care

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (Ventana), a member of the Roche Group, today announces a new agreement with Quintiles, Inc. to offer College of American Pathology (CAP)-standard companion diagnostic testing services in China for pharmaceutical and biotech companies conducting early phase clinical trials. This is great news for patients as China is one of the only countries in the world that requires all patient samples be tested in China, even those used in clinical trials.

"Our new relationship with Quintiles to offer companion diagnostic testing services in China moves our mission, to improve the lives of all patients afflicted with cancer, a big step forward," said Doug Ward, VP and Companion Diagnostics Lifecycle Leader. "Our oncology pharma collaborators can now reach a large and growing number of patients that can benefit from clinical trial participation using targeted treatments and tests."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO)'s latest World Cancer Report, China had the highest rate of new cancer cases recorded globally in 2012 with 21.9%, or 3.07 million, and the trend is increasing, particularly in lung, liver, esophageal and stomach cancers¹.  This underscores the growing need for patients in China to have in-country access to the most advanced tissue diagnostic testing and companion therapeutics in the industry, which starts with early phase clinical trials.

"It's been extremely important to Ventana that we find a strategic laboratory in China that will help us uphold the CAP testing standard of excellence set by our global companion diagnostic CAP/CLIA laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, USA," said Dr. H. James Hnatyszyn, Director Laboratory Operations for VENTANA companion diagnostic services. "Quintiles has the experience, infrastructure and qualified personnel to meet this challenge."

Early phase clinical trial testing according to the rigorous CAP standards set by Ventana is available now.

About Companion Diagnostics

Companion diagnostics are tests designed to confirm the presence of a specific biomarker and assist physicians in selecting effective therapies for their patients. For pharmaceuticals, incorporating a companion diagnostic strategy into a drug development program may expedite the approval process and help generate more effective drugs with improved safety profiles for patients.

¹World Health Organization, World Cancer Report, 2014, Edited by Bernard W. Stewart and Christopher P. Wild

About Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.
Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. ("VMSI") (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), a member of the Roche Group, innovates and manufactures instruments and reagents that automate tissue processing and slide staining for cancer diagnostics. VENTANA products are used in clinical histology and drug development research laboratories worldwide. The company's intuitive, integrated staining, workflow management platforms, and digital pathology solutions optimize laboratory efficiencies to help reduce errors, support diagnosis and enable informed treatment decisions by anatomic pathology professionals. Together with Roche, VMSI is driving Personalized Healthcare through accelerated drug discovery and the development of "companion diagnostics" to identify the patients most likely to respond favorably to specific therapies. VENTANA and the VENTANA logo are trademarks of Roche.

VMSI Media Relations
Jacqueline Bucher
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Phone: 520-877-7288
e-mail: Jacquie Bucher

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SOURCE Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.