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Agendia to develop genetic profile to assess tamoxifen-resistance in breast cancer patients


WEBWIRE

-- License and collaboration agreement with Erasmus Medical Center --

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, 5 July 2006, Agendia B.V. (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam ( Rotterdam, The Netherlands) have signed a license agreement that provides Agendia with the exclusive rights to a genetic profile developed by Erasmus MC that predicts resistance to tamoxifen – one of the most widely used hormonal therapies in breast cancer. Agendia will validate the tamoxifen profile in collaboration with the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI/AVL, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Once validated the profile can be offered along with Agendia’s product MammaPrint to further expand its offering in breast cancer.

The tamoxifen-resistance profile was developed by the group of Els Berns, Ph.D. at the Department of Medical Oncology, Josephine Nefkens Institute, Erasmus MC. She comments on the agreement: “We are pleased that the profile is entering the validation and commercial development track, as this will ensure that our findings can be used to the benefit of large groups of breast cancer patients.”

“For Agendia, the tamoxifen-resistance profile is a valuable addition to its MammaPrint® genetic profiling service that is used to assess the risk of metastasis in breast cancer patients”, says Laura van ‘t Veer, Chief Operating Officer at Agendia and co-inventor of MammaPrint®: “Combining the tamoxifen-resistance profile with MammaPrint is a big step towards offering a more complete package to breast cancer patients that allows for reliable prognosis as well as specific advice on the most suitable adjuvant therapy.”

In addition to the license agreement, Agendia, Erasmus MC and NKI/AVL have agreed on a research collaboration focused on next generation hormonal therapies for breast cancer.

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About Agendia

Agendia is a world leader in gene expression analysis-based diagnostics. The company focuses on the development and commercialization of diagnostic tests using tumor gene expression profiling. Agendia was the first to commercialize a prognostic test - MammaPrint® - that predicts the chance of breast cancer recurrence. CupPrint®*, the second product in the market of Agendia, is used for the identification of Cancers of Unknown Primary. Agendia maintains close ties with NKI/AVL, ensuring access to the latest developments in cancer research. Apart from the development of new cancer diagnostics, Agendia offers its expertise in finding new predictive gene expression profiles to companies focusing on new drug development in the area of oncology.

More information about Agendia BV is available at www.agendia.com

*CupPrint is based on a license to the TUO database of AviaraDx.



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