Genaissance and ParAllele BioScience Sign License and Co-Marketing Agreement
Wednesday April 6, 7:32 am ET
- Focusing on More Efficient Clinical Trials -
NEW HAVEN, Conn., and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 6 /PRNewswire- FirstCall/ -- Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNSC - News) and privately- held ParAllele BioScience, Inc. announced a joint license and co-marketing agreement to provide genetic screening technology and services for drug development and marketing.
Under the terms of the agreement, ParAllele is licensing more than 400 proprietary SNPs from Genaissance. These will be combined with those selected from the public domain, for a total of approximately 1,500 SNPs which are incorporated into a MegAllele(TM) DME-T assay panel developed and marketed by ParAllele. This new panel will provide full coverage of the genetic variation for more than 160 genes that are involved in drug metabolism and transport pathways. Genaissance will be the first company to offer the panel for use in a GLP-compliant environment, for research-use-only applications.
"We believe this will be a truly important product as it is designed to allow the most comprehensive analysis of relevant polymorphisms that affect the metabolism and transport of drugs," said Nicholas J. Naclerio, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of ParAllele. "Our proprietary genotyping technology allows us to easily add new variants as they are discovered ensuring that the MegAllele(TM) DME-T assays are always up-to-date."
"The new assay should allow us to expand our GLP-compliant clinical service offerings and attract new customers," said Kevin Rakin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Genaissance. "With the release of FDA guidance for using pharmacogenomics in drug development, we see a growing need for cost- effective clinical applications that enable genetic data to be submitted to regulatory authorities."
The panel will be used in conjunction with arrays and instrumentation supplied by Affymetrix.
About ParAllele BioScience
ParAllele BioScience, Inc. is accelerating healthcare breakthroughs by providing comprehensive genetic discovery solutions to the life science research, pharmaceutical and diagnostic sectors. The Company's products and services utilize a multiplexed approach that leverages novel biochemical processes rather than complex instrumentation to discover and analyze minute variations in the human genome. The understanding of how subtle genetic variations contribute to disease risk, prognosis and drug response will lead to new and more effective drugs, predictive diagnosis, and the ability to better tailor therapies to individual patients. Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, ParAllele BioScience was founded by a team of leading researchers from the Stanford Genome Technology Center and Uppsala University. The Company's investors include Abingworth Management, Index Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and Versant Ventures. For more information about ParAllele, please visit the Company's website at: parallelebio.com. |
