Natera Announces Collaboration with Diakonos Oncology for Signatera™ in Refractory Melanoma
Signatera™ to evaluate molecular response to investigational dendritic cell therapy as part of Diakonos’ Phase I/II trial
Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRA), a global leader in cell-free DNA and precision medicine, today announced a new collaboration with Diakonos Oncology Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing immunotherapies to treat challenging and aggressive cancers. As part of the collaboration, Signatera will be used to longitudinally assess molecular response in patients with refractory melanoma enrolled in Diakonos’ DOC-RM Phase I/II investigational immunotherapy trial.
The DOC-RM trial, which began enrollment in May, is evaluating DOC1021 (dubodencel), a first-in-class, personalized dendritic cell investigational therapy that recently received Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in unresectable or metastatic cutaneous melanoma. With Signatera, Natera will conduct analyses of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) at multiple timepoints during and following treatment.
Refractory melanoma is an area of significant unmet need. Although immunotherapy has transformed the treatment landscape for advanced melanoma, many patients either do not respond or eventually develop resistance, underscoring the need for novel therapeutic approaches. Because radiographic response assessment can be challenging in immunotherapy-treated patients, serial ctDNA monitoring may provide earlier insight into molecular response and disease dynamics during treatment.1
