Spanish Company Develops Diagnostic Kit for Metastasis

A biotech company has been set up as a spinoff from work done on identifying a gene with the capacity to predict the risk of metastasis of breast cancer to the bone.

The scientists from Institute of Research in Biomedicine (IRB; Barcelona, Spain) established the company to develop a series of tools to diagnose breast cancer patients with a high risk of suffering metastasis to the bone, the most common kind of metastasis in this kind of cancer.

The company, called Supragen, will design and modify current treatments to adapt to the risk of each patient. In addition, the company will develop new therapeutic molecules that inhibit the gene, as its activity is required for metastasis to bone. Thus, this gene is an "excellent candidate" against which to direct inhibitors.

Supragen is the third biotech enterprise to emerge from IRB Barcelona laboratory benches. Technology transfer and the generation of wealth and wellbeing is one of the principal objectives of the center and an obligation to society on the part of scientists, as expressed in the institute's statutes. Supragen is the result of the scientific exploration performed by a team led by Roger Gomis PhD, in the Growth Control and Cancer Metastasis Laboratory at the IRB Barcelona.

Cristina Horcajada, the head of technology transfer at IRB Barcelona, explains that this is an example of how top-class research can reach patients to increase their wellbeing and also how it can generate economic wealth for society.” Registered in Barcelona, this new company is supported by base capital from the founding partners and expects to close negotiations for capital risk funding in mid-October.

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Institute of Research in Biomedicine