KIRKLAND, Wash. and CAMBRIDGE, UK--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 8, 2000--
Companies combined expertise promises to revolutionize the
understanding of complex human diseases
Rosetta Inpharmatics (NASDAQ:RSTA - news) and Gemini Genomics (NASDAQ:GMNI - news) today announced the formation of a discovery partnership aimed at identifying and characterizing sets of genes associated with common human diseases. Through the combination of Gemini's expertise in human population genetics and Rosetta's expertise in large-scale gene expression profiling, the companies hope to uncover those sets of genes responsible for important human diseases.
Initial research will focus on the analysis of RNA - the translator of the DNA code - collected from Gemini's clinical populations to identify associations between the most active genes and the risk or presence of common diseases. Tens of thousands of genes will be screened during the collaboration, with the intention of finding the important genes that contribute to these diseases. Gemini and Rosetta will each fund their respective contributions and will jointly own intellectual property arising from this collaboration. The parties intend to commercialize the results by licensing the rights to third parties interested in the development of gene-based therapeutics and diagnostic products.
``We are extremely pleased to announce the addition of Rosetta Inpharmatics to our growing list of technology partners. Rosetta's gene expression informatics capabilities are unsurpassed. This project is one of the most far-reaching and large scale analyses of its kind yet undertaken,'' said Dr. Paul Kelly, Gemini's Chief Executive Officer. ``Added to our existing alliances and in-house research to identify disease genes, this collaboration gives us yet another route to finding the key disease genes that could be the building blocks of the drugs and diagnostics of tomorrow. It represents yet another avenue to build on our arsenal of intellectual property, and therefore long term value, around disease gene and protein discoveries.''
Stephen Friend, M.D., Ph.D., Rosetta's President and Chief Executive Officer added, ``Gemini represents one of the very best in population genetics partners. We are very enthusiastic about working with Gemini's extensive accumulated clinical data and their unique ability to unlock the genes responsible for the risk as well as the presence of disease. Since the majority of human diseases are most likely the result of changes caused by numerous genes, rather than a single gene, gene expression analysis done on this scale and magnitude may help us understand the genetic basis of many of these common diseases, which have so far eluded researchers.'' |
