Ventana Medical Systems, a member of the Roche Group, has inked a new agreement with Quintiles to offer College of American Pathology (CAP) standard companion diagnostic testing services in China for pharmaceutical and biotech companies conducting early phase clinical trials. 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, vice president and companion diagnostics lifecycle leader. "Our oncology pharma collaborators now can 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 cancers. 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.