PharmacoDesign Purchases Illumina Genotyping Solutions for Pharmacogenomics Research
Tuesday October 25, 6:00 am ET
Illumina to Gain Exclusive, Licensed Access to Biomarkers Discovered Through Disease Studies
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2005--Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - News) announced today an agreement of sale with PharmacoDesign (PD) for a BeadStation system and whole-genome genotyping arrays and reagents for ongoing pharmacogenomics studies. PharmacoDesign will genotype various Korean populations with the aim of understanding genetic variation and personalizing treatment for optimal clinical outcomes.
Under the agreement, Illumina will gain access to biomarkers discovered by PD and will be able to incorporate such markers into proprietary SNP panels under a worldwide, royalty-bearing exclusive license.
PD will study diseases that include obesity, cancer and allergy-induced reactions such as atopy. The company works in partnership with large Korean hospitals to prescribe individualized treatments that utilize diet and "functional foods" in addition to traditional pharmacological approaches.
Initially, PD will utilize Illumina's Sentrix® Human-1 BeadChip, which contains over 100,000 SNP markers, 70% of which are located in or very near genes for direct disease association studies. The Human-1 is powered by Illumina's Infinium(TM) assay, which allows investigators to query the entire genome with call rates, reproducibility and related performance metrics comparable to Illumina's GoldenGate® assay protocol, a gold standard of the HapMap Project. The Infinium assay enables virtually unconstrained, intelligent SNP selection for BeadChip array content.
About PharmacoDesign
PharmacoDesign is Korea's largest provider of genetic analysis research services. The closely held company has partnerships with leading hospitals in Korea and is working with these institutions to understand a range of diseases and help develop personalized approaches based on individual genotypes. More information about PD can be found at www.pharmacodesign.com .
About Illumina
Illumina (www.illumina.com) is developing next-generation tools that permit large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company's proprietary BeadArray(TM) technology -- now used in leading genome centers around the world -- provides the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics and proteomics. This information will help pave the way to personalized medicine. |
