Almac, the Northern Ireland- headquartered pharmaceutical group, has signed a licensing deal with a California company, worth an initial $9 million, which it describes as potentially "game changing".

Under the terms of the deal Genomic Health, which specialises in the development and delivery of cancer diagnostics tests, has secured the rights to develop and commercialise Almac's breast cancer test. The test, which helps to predict which patients are likely to benefit from chemotherapy, was developed by Almac's diagnostics business unit, based in Craigavon.

Breast cancer
The Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology at Queen's University Belfast also collaborated on the project. According to Almac, one in eight women develops breast cancer, and most are diagnosed with early curable disease. In the UK early-stage breast cancer patients are usually treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

Genetic tests
Until now it has been unclear whether the patient will benefit from the treatment. Some get no benefit but suffer unnecessary side-effects. Almac's research could help to identify high-risk breast cancer patients who would benefit from chemotherapy based on genetic tests.

The Craigavon company says the test should be available commercially once validation tests have been completed, possibly in 12 months. It says up to 200,000 patients in the US and Europe could benefit from the new test.

Alan Armstrong, the chief executive of the Almac group, described the deal with Genomic Health as "extremely significant" for the group.

“Not only is it the first of its size for the team, but the potential revenue streams could be game changing in enabling us to reinvest in further research by our staff in Craigavon,” Mr Armstrong said.