ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY, FRA:DWV) said it secured a pharma services contract with a new customer to develop immunofluorescence (IF) assays using its Parsortix system. The biopsy firm said the assays will be used to detect two specific protein markers expressed by circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and implicated in DNA damage repair (DDR), an increasing area of focus for oncology drug development. READ: Angle liquid biopsy successful in brain cancer study Under the contract, ANGLE said it will develop two assays to detect the target proteins in four hard-to-treat cancers: triple-negative breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer. The first phase of work covers the initial assays development and validation contract and will generate revenues of around US$400,000 over 12 months. Assuming a successful outcome, ANGLE said the customer expects the assays to be utilised in a clinical trial with study sites in the US and Europe which is planned to commence in the second half of 2022. This trial is expected to generate “further significant revenues” for the company, adding that the customer is also discussing other separate assay development projects with the group. ANGLE said the deal is expected to “significantly increase the attraction of the Parsortix CTC analysis offering” to other potential pharma clients. “We are delighted to have secured our first assay development contract so soon after launching this service. Research by leading cancer centres has demonstrated the utility of the Parsortix platform in detecting novel drug targets expressed by CTCs and this contract to develop assays against new targets of interest provides further endorsement of our technology”, ANGLE founder and chief executive Andrew Newland said in a statement. “DNA damage repair (DDR) is a growing area of interest in new drug development and assay development. The new assays will provide an important addition to our pharma services menu alongside our existing capabilities in PD-L1 for immunotherapy”, the CEO added.