Immunicon, AstraZeneca Enter Biomarker Pact

Immunicon Corp. entered into two separate research agreements with AstraZeneca UK Ltd. for three projects related to the development of methodologies to identify and quantify certain cell types circulating in blood that are potentially valuable biomarkers for targeted therapies.

Leon Terstappen, chief scientific officer of Immunicon, remarked, “We are very pleased to enter into these collaborations with AstraZeneca. We hope that the new assays that we plan to develop under the research agreement will help to accelerate AZ’s therapy development by assessing the presence of their treatment targets and earlier determination of the effectiveness of these therapies.”

Donna Johnstone, preclinical director of cancer translational medicine at AZ, said, “The ability to molecularly characterize circulating tumor cells is a key advance in the era of targeted therapies. Our collaboration with Immunicon will significantly enhance our research base in this core area.”

In a second master lab services agreement, Immunicon will perform lab services in connection with various drug development programs in the fields of cancer and infectious diseases. Initially, five projects will be initiated under this master lab services agreement where Immunicon will provide enumeration and characterization of circulating tumor cells and circulating endothelial cells as well as certain molecular characterization of these rare cells.

Andrew Hughes, clinical director of cancer translational medicine at AZ, said, “As a recognized leader in this field, we are delighted to have secured Immunicon’s support, in quantifying circulating cells across five of our ongoing clinical programs.”