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Mountain View, California, February 19, 2002/PRNewswire/ SurroMed,
Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a subcontract to
undertake clinical phenotyping under a National Institutes of
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases contract entitled
"Autoimmune Biomarkers Collaborative Network." Dr. Peter
K. Gregersen of North Shore Long Island Jewish Research Institute
is the Principal Investigator. Other collaborators include Dr.
Larry Moreland of University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dr. Timothy
W. Behrens of the University of Minnesota and Dr. Michelle Petri
of Johns Hopkins University. The contract provides funding for
a research study that will enroll 240 subjects with rheumatoid
arthritis administered anti-TNF therapies, including RemicadeÒ
(infliximab) and EnbrelÒ (entanercept). The primary objective
of the study is to identify biological markers associated with
patient response and non-response to these therapies. These markers
will serve as the basis for proprietary diagnostic products. In
addition, the study will yield important data on the activities
of these drugs and potential new approaches for therapeutic intervention
in rheumatoid arthritis.
"There is a tremendous clinical need for diagnostics that
can be used to rationally guide treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
patients, and this need will only become more acute as new rheumatoid
arthritis therapies targeting different mechanisms come to market,"
said Dr. Peter Gregersen. The research study we are undertaking
is an important step toward enabling personalized treatment of
rheumatoid arthritis."
"With our integrated clinical phenotyping technologies,
including cytometry, immunoassay, proteomics and metabolomics,
we will collect more data relating to the onset, progression and
response to therapy of rheumatoid arthritis than has ever been
accumulated. We intend to analyze the phenotypic data along with
the gene expression data that will be generated by Dr. Gregersen
using our advanced bioinformatics and data mining capabilities,"
said Gordon Ringold, Ph.D., CEO and Chairman of SurroMed.
"Rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune inflammatory diseases
are areas of special focus for SurroMed, and this study will complement
the ongoing, multi-year, longitudinal rheumatoid arthritis biomarker
discovery study we are conducting with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation,
" said Nancy Grove, MD, SurroMed's Chief Medical Officer.
About SurroMed, Inc.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, SurroMed uses its
integrated phenotyping and biological marker discovery platform
to better understand the root causes of disease and the factors
underlying patient-to-patient variations in disease presentation,
progression and response to therapy. Discoveries arising from
its research will enable improved, cost-efficient discovery and
development of therapeutic and diagnostic products. SurroMed's
phenotyping and biological marker discovery platform incorporates
advanced proprietary technologies for profiling and analysis of
hundreds of immune cell populations, proteins and low-molecular-weight
organic molecules (such as sugars, peptides or lipids) in small
volumes of blood and/or other biological samples, while maintaining
complete patient confidentiality. By capturing and analyzing enormous
amounts of clinical and biological information in a massively
parallel fashion to identify useful biological markers, SurroMed
plans to enable the precise diagnosis and effective treatment
of disease.
Contacts:
SurroMed, Inc. Noonan/Russo Communications, Inc.
August J. Moretti Ian McConnell, Ph.D
CFO and General Counsel Senior Account Executive
(650) 230-1564 (415) 677-4455 ext. 233
email: [email protected]
email:[email protected]
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