Biocartis partners with AstraZeneca on lung cancer diagnostics

(Reuters) - Belgian molecular diagnostics company Biocartis Group said on Thursday it had entered into an agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca to obtain faster lung cancer molecular diagnostic biomarker results in Europe.

Following the agreement, a prospective lung cancer study with Biocartis's Idylla EGFR Mutation Test will be conducted in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy.

"We are very excited to be collaborating with AstraZeneca in the area of lung cancer ... For Biocartis, this is yet another important collaboration to support the further roll-out of our Idylla platform," Biocartis Chief Executive Officer Herman Verrelst said.

The study is aimed at determining how the Idylla platform's features can speed up and simplify lung cancer diagnostics by delivering biomarker results faster.

(Reporting by Piotr Lipinski in Gdynia, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)