ERYtech Pharma announced a collaborative research agreement in the field of personalized medicine focusing on ERYtech’s flagship product, GRASPA, which consists of red blood cell-encapsulated L-asparaginase (L-ASP). Pr. John Weinstein, Chairman of the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) and principal investigator of the project, states “L-ASP is a standard component of leukemia chemotherapy regimens, but it’s not used yet against solid tumors due to erratic activity. We’ve identified a candidate biomarker, asparagine synthetase (ASNS) that may predict L-ASP activity against solid tumors.” Dr. Philip Lorenzi, who leads the project, adds “We’re very interested in studying GRASPA because of its reported reduction of L-asparaginase side effects.” ERYtech Pharma’s Co-Founder and CEO, Dr. Yann Godfrin says “Collaboration with M. D. Anderson Cancer Center provides us the opportunity to develop a clinically-compatible biomarker assay and to rationally prescribe GRASPA to patients who are most likely to respond. Toward that end, the M. D. Anderson’s researchers will analyze patient samples from ERYtech’s clinical trials.”