Dutch molecular diagnostics firm Agendia recently announced that it and several partners have received a four-year fund, $6.8 million grant from the European Commission to study targeted therapies for colorectal cancer.

Along with several European partners, the firm will launch a study to evaluate the effectiveness of matching therapies to molecular subtypes of colorectal cancer. Agendia and its partners will perform Phase II studies across Europe, using Agendia technology to identify tumor subtypes in patients with advanced disease and poor prognosis, the firm said in a statement.

"Our technology has already demonstrated the value of this approach for breast cancer," Rene Bernards, Agendia CSO, said in a statement. Agendia said it will work with 10 partner institutions in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Italy and two undisclosed pharmaceutical companies.