US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Epizyme has collaborated with genomic analysis diagnostics firm Foundation Medicine to support patient identification and enrolment for its ongoing Phase II clinical trial of tazemetostat in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
As part of the collaboration, Foundation Medicine’s SmartTrials Precision Enrolment Programme and FoundationOne Heme panel will provide assistance to Epizyme in identifying individuals with NHL who harbour EZH2 mutations and constitute specific cohorts.
Epizyme president and chief executive officer Robert Bazemore said: “This agreement exemplifies our commitment to execute enrolment in our ongoing Phase II NHL study, particularly patients with EZH2 mutations.
“We are pleased to partner with Foundation Medicine, an industry leader and innovator in molecular information and comprehensive genomic profiling, to advance our tazemetostat clinical programme and accelerate identification of patients who may benefit from this therapy.”
Epizyme’s oral, first-in-class EZH2 inhibitor, tazemetostat, is currently being investigated through multiple clinical trials.
Initial clinical data showed that tazemetostat has an encouraging clinical activity and also a safety profile in patients with relapsed and refractory NHL.
Tazemetostat is also being studied in adult and pediatric patients with certain genetically defined solid tumours, including INI1-negative and SMARCA4-negative tumours and synovial sarcoma, as well as in patients with mesothelioma.
This year, the company also intends to begin additional clinical trials of tazemetostat, including a combination with R-CHOP in collaboration with the Lymphoma Study Association and a combination with Tecentriq (atezolizumab) in collaboration with Roche Group member Genentech.
