Biomarker Commons

apceth GmbH & Co. KG, located in Munich, Germany, and Indivumed GmbH, based in Hamburg, Germany, have entered into a partnership for the development of a predominantly tissue-based biomarker strategy for the treatment of solid cancers with cellular and/or gene therapeutics. The goal is to predict the response of a targeted cellular/gene therapy in different cancer types and to stratify patients to provide a more individualized cancer treatment with apceth's innovative cell and cell-based gene therapeutics. A reliable biomarker platform will enable oncologists to identify those patients who will most likely benefit from the treatment with apceth's therapeutics, thus establishing a unique and truly personalized therapeutic approach adapted to the needs of each cancer patient.

Dako, a world leading independent cancer diagnostic supplier with 45 years of experience in pathology, announced today that it has entered into a new collaboration agreement with Amgen Inc. on the development of a diagnostic test for an Amgen cancer drug candidate in clinical development.

“Prediction” is only part of what is needed to realize the promise of personalized medicine: It is perhaps more critical to detect the early onset of disease in real time, when it is most likely to be successfully treated. Dr. Larry Gold, CEO of SomaLogic and Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, presented a breakthrough technology that promises to provide such sensitive and early detection, and ultimately transform the practice of medicine. His talk, Unlocking Biomarker Discovery, was given at a special Session on “Predictive Medicine” on February 17, 2012, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

Affymetrix, Inc. today announced that its GeneChip System 3000Dx v.2 (GCS 3000Dx v.2) has been approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) for in vitro diagnostic use. The GCS 3000Dx v.2 is the first microarray instrument system to be granted SFDA registration for array-based diagnostics for enabling personalized medicine. China has more than 2,000 clinical centers that will now have access to the only SFDA-cleared microarray platform for clinical testing.

Moffitt Cancer Center, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and Florida Hospital have announced they will collaborate on the creation of a Personalized Medicine Partnership of Florida (PMP Florida). The partnership will conduct collaborative research to accelerate discovery and develop new treatments in the areas of cancer and metabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.