Foundation Medicine, Inc. Release: Data From A Study Utilizing FoundatioOne Heme Indicates Age-Associated Genomic Profiles In Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Study Validates FoundationOne Heme’s 100% Concordance with Conventional Genomic Testing and Ability to Identify Additional Mutations Not Captured by Other Molecular Assays

Data Presented by Foundation Medicine and Collaborators at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting Further Propels the Advancement of Precision Medicine in Pediatric Cancers

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foundation Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMI) today announced new data informed by comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) using FoundationOne® Heme demonstrating the diverse and distinct genomic landscape of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children versus adults. Foundation Medicine conducted comprehensive genomic profiling of tumor samples from 558 patients with AML, including 104 pediatric and 454 adult patients, and identified age-associated genomic alterations in a subset of patients that could influence and personalize treatment and inform the selection of approved targeted therapies or access to novel therapies available in clinical trials.

“Like many blood cancers, AML is characterized by recurring genomic alterations that often provide information about disease progression and outcome, making comprehensive genomic profiling incredibly important to informing diagnosis and therapeutic decisions”

In collaboration with the Children’s Oncology Group AML Disease Committee, a clinical trials group supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), cases with known cytogenetic and molecular aberrations underwent CGP with FoundationOne Heme. The results demonstrated 100% concordance between FoundationOne Heme and conventional biomarker analysis across the various cytogenetic hallmarks of AML, including changes to inv(16) and t(8;21), as well as DNA mutations including FLT3/ITD, NPM1, and CEBPA. Importantly, FoundationOne Heme identified multiple additional mutations, such as structural alterations and copy number variations, including alterations that have therapeutic significance. These results suggest the potential clinical benefit of FoundationOne Heme in AML as compared to single gene or hotspot-based clinical testing, and underscore FoundationOne Heme’s unique capability to enhance risk stratification and identify molecular targets for therapeutic intervention.

The data showed a clear age-associated profile with distinct genomic make-up in pediatric versus adult patients. Novel transcripts such as NSD1-NUP98, KDM5A-NUP98 and CBFA2T3-GLIS2 were identified in 21 patients, 16 of whom were children. Fusions were markedly enriched in pediatric patients, while mutations in epigenetic modifiers occurred almost exclusively in adults, including DNMT3A (22 percent), IDH1/2 (21 percent) and TET2 (15 percent). Mutations in ASXL1 (21 percent), SRSF2 (14 percent) and BCOR (9 percent) were also prevalent in adults, but rare in children (0-6%).

“Like many blood cancers, AML is characterized by recurring genomic alterations that often provide information about disease progression and outcome, making comprehensive genomic profiling incredibly important to informing diagnosis and therapeutic decisions,” said Vincent Miller, M.D., chief medical officer, Foundation Medicine. “Recognizing that there are fundamental differences between the genomic alterations in pediatric versus adult AML patients will ultimately arm clinicians with additional information to better understand each patient’s disease and guide therapeutic regimens best suited to a particular age group. We believe these data further support integration of FoundationOne Heme into oncology clinical practice.”

The findings were presented in a poster titled, “Distinct Age-Associated Genomic Profiles Identified in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Using FoundationOne Heme,” by Katherine Tarlock, M.D., pediatric hematology-oncology faculty at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and a member of the Children’s Oncology Group AML Committee. The data were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2016 taking place June 3-7 in Chicago.

FoundationOne Heme, an integrated DNA/RNA platform using targeted hybrid-capture next-generation sequencing, is a comprehensive genomic profile developed to detect all types of genomic alterations with therapeutic relevance, including single-nucleotide substitutions, insertions and deletions, copy number alterations and rearrangements, which are not fully evaluated using conventional diagnostic assays. FoundationOne Heme simultaneously detects all classes of genomic alterations in the DNA of 405 cancer-related genes and employs RNA sequencing across 265 genes to capture a broad range of gene fusions, a type of alteration that is a common driver of hematologic cancers. It is designed to provide physicians with clinically actionable information to guide treatment options for patients based on the genomic profile of their cancer.

About Foundation Medicine

Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ:FMI) is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient’s unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patient’s cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials. Foundation Medicine’s molecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visit http://www.FoundationMedicine.com or follow Foundation Medicine on Twitter (@FoundationATCG).

Foundation Medicine® and FoundationOne® Heme are registered trademarks of Foundation Medicine, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the ability of comprehensive genomic profiling, including FoundationOne Heme, to identify genomic alterations, approved therapies or therapies in clinical trials; the ability of FoundationOne Heme to improve patient outcomes generally or compared to other testing and inform the selection of targeted therapies or access to clinical trials for particular patient populations, including those with AML; and the relevance of FoundationOne Heme in oncology clinical care. All such forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk that the results presented are found to lack scientific, medical or clinical utility or that subsequent research renders the results presented less useful or not useful in clinical practice; Foundation Medicine’s services and molecular information platform will not be able to identify genomic alterations in the same manner as prior clinical data; and the risks described under the caption “Risk Factors” in Foundation Medicine’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other risks detailed in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Foundation Medicine undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.