Adaptive Pharmacogenomics, LLC

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. —Feb. 1, 2011 — Avantra Biosciences (Avantra) 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.

Patients with cancer usually do not die as a result of their originally diagnosed tumor. However, many do so as a result of metastatic disease -- tumors that arise at distant sites after spreading from the original tumor. Identifying biomarkers of tumor metastasis would therefore be of immense clinical benefit.

Early Human Screening of Medications to Treat Drug Addiction: Novel Paradigms and the Relevance of Pharmacogenetics.

Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2011 Jan 26;

Authors: Perkins KA, Lerman C

PMID: 21270792 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Statistical considerations in evaluating pharmacogenomics-based clinical effect for confirmatory trials.

Clin Trials. 2010 Oct;7(5):525-36

Authors: Wang SJ, O'Neill RT, Hung HJ

The current practice for seeking genomically favorable patients in randomized controlled clinical trials using genomic convenience samples.

PMID: 20595242 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

WOBURN, Mass. , Jan. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantra® Biosciences, a leading innovator in protein diagnostics, announced today their first shipments of the new Q400 Biomarker Workstation and the innovative Angio Qx™ BioChip Immunoassay. The system provides quantitative protein biomarker results for ten analytes in less than an hour, requiring less than five minutes for sample preparation.

Pittsfield – Biomarker pioneer Nuclea Biotechnologies, Inc. today announced a new partnership with Boston Medical Center (BMC) that could lead to more effective treatments for people with breast and prostate cancers. The pairing of the Pittsfield and Worcester-based biotech firm and one of Boston’s leading teaching hospitals will significantly advance research and development of biomarkers, a key component in the growing field of personalized medicine.

A new study shows that a test of biomarkers for DNA methylation is technically feasible and could aid in earlier, more precise diagnosis of melanoma. In a paper that appeared online last week in the journal Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, a team of UNC researchers tested whether DNA methylation profiling could be accomplished on melanoma and mole tissues that had been preserved in fixatives for typical pathology examination after biopsy.

(I have asked my colleague, Dr. Sean David, to make some comments for this posting).

In 1971, Abdel Omran coined the term “epidemiological transition” to describe the shift from “pestilence and famines” to “man-made diseases” to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality observed with modernization and implementation of public health policies in developed nations.

The promises of personalized medicine.

Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2010 Aug;66(8):749-54

Authors: Cascorbi I

PMID: 20563567 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide 1B1: a Genetically Polymorphic Transporter of Major Importance for Hepatic Drug Uptake.

Pharmacol Rev. 2011 Jan 18;

Authors: Niemi M, Pasanen MK, Neuvonen PJ

The importance of membrane transporters for drug pharmacokinetics has been increasingly recognized during the last decade.