Myriad Genetics' TruCulture Study Results Favorable

Personalized medicine major Myriad Genetics, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:MYGN) wholly-owned subsidiary Myriad RBM, Inc. recently announced the release of landmark research work from the Milieu Interieur Project by Institut Pasteur. The publication affirmed the ability to perform standardized transcriptome profiling and the study of expression levels of different genes in 25 subjects following TruCulture incubation with 20 clinically relevant immune system stimulants.

We take a note that the outcome of this population-based study ‘Milieu Interieur project’, which is supported by the French National Ministry of Research and is based on Myriad’s TruCulture platform, will be highly favorable for Myriad Genetics in terms of expansion in the global molecular diagnostic products market.

Myriad RBM’s TruCulture technology is a proprietary blood collection and culturing platform that allows researchers to perform ex-vivo immune system analysis. It is used at the site of collection and simplifies the process of immune stimulation. The technology helps scientists accurately reflect the complexities of the human immune system, thus facilitating easy immune monitoring in clinical trials.

MYRIAD GENETICS Price

The research report also highlighted the merits of TruCulture in immune system analysis. The study demonstrated that a relatively small subset of genes, as few as 44 genes of 572, could explain the variation in immune response to different stimuli among patients. Institut Pasteur’s report recognized TruCulture’s ability to perform this test in an ex-vivo environment. The report also states that the technology is a precious tool for prospective biomarkers or gene indicators related to immune response in patients.

Compared to the present laboratory-based methods, TruCulture helps in simplifying the shipping and processing related hazards and also reduces expenses associated with cell culture facility and staff.

The company is encouraged by the growing prospects of TruCulture, which has been vastly used in pharmaceutical research as well as for potential diagnostic products. The latest positive data on TruCulture, we believe comes as a partial relief for Myriad Genetics, after its fourth-quarter debacle which had led to a 33.1% plunge in share price to $19.70.

We are also encouraged by the untapped potential of the worldwide molecular diagnostics product market. According to a recent Markets and Markets report, the molecular diagnostics market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% to $9,333.8 million by 2020.

The capacity of TruCulture to precisely measure responses in patient samples has encouraged Myriad RBM to further develop this technology. The company is actively undertaking several research collaborations to improvise TruCulture further. This would enhance the technology to accurately capture data related to cancer immunotherapy, auto immune disorders, mental illnesses and vaccine responses.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Myriad currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Better-ranked stocks in the medical product sector are GW Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:GWPH) , NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVA) and Quidel Corp. (NASDAQ:QDEL) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here

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