(Yicai Global) July 25 -- China's Amoy Diagnostics is joining hands with a unit of British-Swedish pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm AstraZeneca to supply it with companion diagnostic products for detecting ovarian cancer in Chinese patients.

Kudos Pharmaceutical will use a homologous recombination deficiency detection device developed by Amoy as a companion diagnostic used in the process of healing ovarian cancer patients in China with Olaparib, a drug developed by Kudos with US pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme, Amoy said yesterday, citing a deal it recently signed with Kudos.

Detection devices like the one Xiamen-based Amoy will provide to Kudos are essential to test the variation in cancer patients' related genes before they take biologically targeted medicines.

Amoy's device passed AstraZeneca's strict screening and tests, the company added, noting that this will benefit Chinese patients and help consolidate its leading position in the HRD detection reagents market.

Amoy is pushing for registration approval of the companion diagnostic from the National Medical Products Administration, the firm said. Meanwhile, Olaparib has already been approved for conditional maintenance treatment of adults with cancers, including advanced ovarian cancer with positive HRD.

The partnership with Kudos is not expected to impact Amoy's financial and operating results this year, the company pointed out.

Besides AstraZeneca, Amoy has also signed similar cooperation deals with multinational pharmaceutical giants such as Eli Lilly and Pfizer on new drugs they developed.

Amoy's shares [SHE: 300685] ended little changed at CNY24.07 (USD3.37) in Shenzhen today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione