Avantra Biosciences selects TGen Drug Development for new biomarker quantitation platform

Avantra Biosciences today announced the selection of TGen Drug Development (TD2) as a key test site for Avantra's new biomarker quantitation platform.

Avantra, based near Boston in Woburn, Mass., has created an automated multiplex immunoassay system to evaluate the associations between elevated protein levels, unique patient characteristics, and drug responses. The new Q400 Biomarker Workstation and innovative Angio Qx- BioChip Immunoassay will enable the rapid measurement of biomarkers that can predict how cancer patients will respond to new drug therapies.

Combined with TD2's integrated suite of molecular analysis tools - designed to reduce the uncertainty in the drug development process - the partnership with Avantra will help enable emerging drug companies to quickly and safely get their discoveries to market, where they can benefit patients.

"Avantra's advanced testing technologies will help scientists speed development of their laboratory discoveries into new therapeutics in a safe and cost-effective manner," said TD2 President Dr. Stephen Gately. "Early identification of biomarkers that are associated with drug activity will facilitate a more seamless translation to measure the most appropriate markers for the same drug in the clinic."

TD2, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., provides drug development firms with expertise in moving promising laboratory discoveries through the pre-clinical, clinical and regulatory approval steps of getting new drugs to patients as quickly and safely as possible.

Avantra will assist in this process with the commercialization of the new Q400 BioMarker Workstation and the Angio Qx- BioChip Immunoassay. The power and simplicity of Avantra's QPDx platform offers researchers easy-to-use bench-top multiplex protein tests that deliver rapid quantitative results with very little setup time. The completely self-contained Q400/Angio Qx combination provides quantitative protein biomarker results for ten analytes in less than an hour, with less than five minutes of sample preparation.

Avantra is currently developing additional assays for its QDPxTM Product Line that will target specific areas in cancer medicine.

"TD2 is a leader and change agent in the scientific community's effort to apply innovative molecular analysis technologies to solve challenges in the drug development and oncology fields," said Brian McKernan, CEO of Avantra.

"We are delighted to partner with TD2. Our collaboration with their outstanding team of professionals is a critical component to Avantra's goal of integrating our QPDx proteomic solutions with novel and cutting edge molecular profiling technologies," McKernan said. "We anticipate our collaboration with TD2 will enable Avantra to expedite the release of new oncology focused QPDx BioChip panels, and enable TD2 to couple advanced multiplex protein technologies with their innovative drug profiling platform."

Source: The Translational Genomics Research Institute