Oxford Gene Technology and Abcodia form Partnership

Hits:1345   Date: 11/8/2011

 Companies Combine Expertise to Advance Biomarkers for the Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

 

Oxford, UK – 7 November 2011. Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), provider of innovative clinical genetics and diagnostic solutions to advance molecular medicine, has today announced a collaborative agreement with Abcodia, a specialist company engaged in the validation and discovery of biomarkers of cancer and other age-related diseases, aimed at improving the early detection of pancreatic cancer. As part of this collaboration, Abcodia will provide access to its large prospective serum biobank, to harness samples taken from individuals up to 7 years before the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.  OGT will apply its functional protein array platform and its Genefficiency™ microRNA profiling array to identify pancreatic cancer specific biomarkers that can be used as diagnostic indicators of developing pancreatic cancer. Both OGT and Abcodia will bring their expertise in experimental design and analysis.

 

At present, the prognosis for someone diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is poor. The limitations of current diagnostic techniques mean that often the cancer is not detected until after it has spread. The identification of sensitive and specific biomarkers that allow early detection of pancreatic cancer could therefore significantly increase survival rates.

 

Julie Barnes, Chief Executive Officer, Abcodia said: "We are very excited to be able to form this strategic partnership with OGT. The combination of the breadth of the OGT technology with our unique serum biobank provides a real opportunity to significantly advance the field of early pancreatic cancer diagnosis and screening."

 

John Anson, Vice President Biomarker Discovery, OGT commented: "A common challenge in discovering novel cancer biomarkers is the availability of well characterised samples for the disease area of interest. We are delighted that, through our partnership with Abcodia, we are able to employ our unique and integrated genomic and proteomic array technologies to identify sensitive and specific biomarkers for pancreatic cancer."

 

Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

 

For more information about OGT’s cytogenetic, genomic and biomarker solutions visit www.ogt.co.uk.

 

For further information, please contact:

Oxford Gene Technology, Begbroke Science Park,
Sandy Lane, Yarnton, Oxford OX5 1PF
T: +44 (0) 1865 856826 ; F: +44 (0) 1865 848684 ; E: products@ogt.co.uk

W: www.ogt.co.uk

 

About Oxford Gene Technology

Founded by Professor Ed Southern, Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) provides innovative clinical genetics and diagnostic solutions to advance molecular medicine. www.ogt.co.uk.

 

Biomarker Discovery: OGT delivers tailored biomarker discovery solutions that optimise drug and diagnostic development programmes. With expertise in genomic and proteomic diagnostic biomarkers, OGT provides highly specific customised biomarker panels for cancer and other diseases, both for direct sale and also for collaboration with partner companies.

 

Clinical & Genomic Solutions: OGT’s Genefficiency™ is a unique combination of world-leading platforms, people, processing power and performance synchronised to deliver rapid, high-quality genomic data to customers worldwide. OGT’s CytoSure™ cytogenetics array, labelling and interpretation software products and services provide a complete solution for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities. Together, Genefficiency and CytoSure offer a unique, standardised and integrated solution for cytogenetics research.

 

About Abcodia

Abcodia is a specialist company engaged in the validation and discovery of biomarkers of cancer and other age-related diseases. The company’s prospective biobank has over 5,000,000 serum samples derived from more than 200,000 initially healthy volunteers, 50,000 of whom have provided samples annually, making this an ideal resource for identifying biomarkers for disease screening. www.abcodia.com.