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PRESS TRUST.COM
February 25, 2005
Avesthagen & Sequenom
announce research collaboration
Avestha Gengraine Technologies Pvt.
Ltd. has today announced a research collaboration with
Sequenom Inc., to analyse Sequenom's proprietary panels
of genetic markers associated with diabetes as well as
with breast and lung cancers in Indian patient samples.
The results of this collaboration could provide further
validation of Sequenom's genetic markers and improve the
understanding of the role of these genetic markers in
disease onset, progression and therapeutic
response.
To initiate this collaboration,
Avesthagen has purchased the high performance
MassARRAYTM genotyping system from Sequenom, used for
the purpose of SNP discovery. The machine works using
the principle of MALDI-TOF MS, where the mass and
correlating genotype of DNA are determined in Real time
using the MassARRAY RTTM software. The MassARRAYTM
system is quite versatile and will allow Avesthagen to
leverage this versatility to engage in future research
collaborations in areas such as clinical genetics,
toxicogenomics and nutrigenomics. This system is the
first of its kind to be installed in India.
Avesthagen and Sequenom will jointly analyze the
resulting data to determine the extent to which the
disease predisposition markers are associated with
specific clinical endpoints. Sequenom's proprietary
genetic markers were discovered through a series of
genome-wide association studies and subsequently
replicated in multiple independent clinical collections.
The collaboration will capitalize on Sequenom’s state of
the art Genetic Analysis technologies and Avesthagen’s
unique knowledge in pharmacogenomics and functional
genomics.
"The collaboration between our two
companies may lead to important diabetes, breast and
lung cancer diagnostic and prognostic applications in
the field of molecular medicine. The study should
provide insight into the extent to which genetic
markers, that predispose an individual to a higher
disease risk, affect disease progression and therapeutic
outcome," stated Villoo Morawala Patell, Avesthagen’s
Founder & CEO. "India is a very exciting and
rewarding place for performing genetic analysis of
complex diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
Comprehensive clinical data combined with the
participation and goodwill of Indians and the clinical
community provides an unparalleled basis for a
successful research effort. This agreement is part of
our long term strategic effort to utilize our research
programs to develop results that can be translated into
therapeutic benefits for
patients."
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