Qiagen Strengthens Leadership in Personalized Healthcare

Qiagen (Hilden, Germany) has signed an agreement for the acquisition of a strategic stake in Alacris Theranostics GmbH (Berlin, Germany), a start-up company using novel technologies to develop individualized cancer treatment strategies based upon a patient's genomic profile.

Together with a minority stake in Alacris, Qiagen will acquire an exclusive option for access to all biomarkers that are discovered. Alacris will participate in commercialization of these biomarkers through royalty fees. Financial details of the agreement, which is subject to closing requirements including the approval of Alacris' shareholders, were not disclosed.

The Alacris modeling system was developed by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPI-MG; Berlin, Germany) and Harvard Medical School (Cambridge, USA). The system was exclusively licensed to Alacris Theranostics, to analyze clinical sample data based on next-generation and other whole genome sequencing technologies.

Called ModCell, the system allows users to identify and select from vast amounts of genetic data markers that can prove useful to guide treatment decisions for patients. The technology can also be used to create marker subsets to stratify potential patient populations for trials involving medicines in clinical development.

The marker selections can be formatted into real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based assays that Qiagen can commercialize within its pharmaceutical development assay portfolio or its TheraScreen molecular diagnostics portfolio for use on the company's QIAsymphony RGQ platform.

Providing descriptions for individual patient profiles as well as for emergence and progress of diseases, biomarkers play an increasingly important role in diagnostics and the development of new pharmaceutical agents. Experts estimate the overall market volume for biomarkers will be approximately US$21 billion by 2012.

In a separate agreement Qiagen acquired a minority stake in EyeSense (Ostheim, Germany), a developer of ophthalmic diagnostic systems for glucose monitoring of diabetes patients. The companies plan to develop a new optical measurement technology for blood glucose monitoring by diabetes patients. Under the terms of the agreement, Qiagen has taken a minority equity stake in the firm and has gained royalty rights for future commercialization.

The new system will be based on EyeSense's glucose-sensing technology and Qiagen's ESE fluorescence-based optical technology, and it should allow patients to monitor their disease more easily than with current methods.

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Alacris Theranostics GmbH
Harvard Medical School
EyeSense