Althea Awarded NCI Grant To Apply Innovative Technology In Diagnosis Of Childhood Cancers
Phase I SBIR grant received from the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
SAN DIEGO – October 19, 2004 – Althea Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of innovative technologies for pharmaceutical services and manufacturing, announced today that it has received a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), of the National Institutes of Health. The objective of the grant is to establish validated, quantitative gene expression assays that serve as “genetic signatures” for the diagnosis of multiple pediatric cancers, including neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Ewing family tumors, collectively known as small, round, blue cell tumors (SRBCTs). The genetic signatures, initially determined at NCI through the analysis of microarray-based expression data are being translated and validated to high throughput assays using Althea’s eXpress ProfilingTM technology. Recently licensed to Beckman Coulter, Inc., the eXpress Profiling™ technology is a high-throughput, highly-multiplexed, PCR-based gene expression analysis technique that can be used to quantitate the gene expression values of 20-35 genes in a single PCR reaction.
The work will be performed in collaboration with Dr. Javed Khan; an oncologist working in the Pediatric Oncology Branch of the NCI whose initial analysis of data using artificial neural network analysis will serve as the basis for the development of the multiplexed PCR assays. These assays will be used to expand the data set to include information from hundreds of additional patient samples. Dr. Gary Fogel, of Natural Selection, Inc., a leader in the development of artificial neural network analysis will also collaborate in this effort, further refining the diagnostic classifier algorithms and optimizing the analysis for use with the multiplexed PCR data. “Althea is very excited about the potential of this approach to provide an efficient means to develop high-throughput, cost-efficient assays with research and clinical applications in classifying different forms of cancer.” stated Dr. Joseph Monforte, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer and Principal Investigator on the grant. “Moreover, we believe that the approach will have broader applications, allowing researchers to develop specific gene signatures for various cancers and create assays that will allow us to diagnose different types and stages of cancer and to select the most effective therapy.”
“In our services and in our research with the National Cancer Institute, we are providing a new tool for investigating the telltale gene expression information characteristic of certain cancers, and potentially valuable prognostic and diagnostic assays,” stated Dr. François Ferré, Co-President and Co-CEO. “Our goal is to use eXpress ProfilingTM to help researchers find solutions to the identification and effective treatment of these and other cancers."
About Althea Technologies, Inc.
Althea Technologies, a leading San Diego-based pharmaceutical services firm, provides critical manufacturing and development services that support researchers worldwide in their advancement of novel therapies and efforts to apply new genomic information. Althea’s services include cGMP contract manufacturing of recombinant proteins and DNA-based therapeutics and vaccines, aseptic filling, and gene quantification using real-time PCR and gene expression analysis under GLP conditions. Additionally, Althea has introduced new services and technologies for the identification and understanding of gene signatures with innovative tools such as the company’s proprietary eXpress ProfilingTM technology. For more information, visit www.altheatech.com.
Contact:
Althea Technologies, Inc.
Alan Moore
Executive Vice President and CBO
(858) 882-0205
amoore@altheatech.com