Biocartis announced an expansion of its collaboration with Merck Serono Middle East and Merck Saudi Ltd., both affiliates of Merck KGaA ("Merck"). The collaboration aims to improve patient access to RAS biomarker testing in the Middle East and North Africa (MEA) region. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide, with an estimated incidence of more than 1.9 million new cases annually.

An estimated 904 thousand deaths from CRC occur worldwide every year, making it the second most common cause of death from cancer. Understanding an individual patient's biomarker status is key to support timely treatment decision-making in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Treatment with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody therapies have shown to improve outcomes in patients with RAS wild-type mCRC.

RAS biomarker testing is cumbersome and not readily available in all parts of the world. The Idylla KRAS Mutation Test and Idylla NRAS-BRAF Mutation Test are highly performant6 Tests that rapidly determine the RAS biomarker status in mCRC tumor tissue samples. Due to the ease-of-use of the Biocartis Idylla Platform, the Tests can be deployed in any user setting and in turn aid patient access to biomarker testing globally.