Clinical Genomics Continues Progress in Developing Biomarker Portfolio for Colorectal Cancer Testing

September 22nd, 2009 BERLIN - - The Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Present Data Which Highlight Benefits of Adding capecitabine to epirubicin and docetaxel in the Neoadjuvant Setting Data from the ABCSG-24 study presented today at the joint 15th ECCO and 34th ESMO congress in Berlin, Germany, show that adding capecitabine (Xeloda(R)) to anthracycline- and taxane-containing regimens prior to surgery (neoadjuvant therapy) completely eradicated the tumour in 24% of women with HER2-positive or HER2-negative early breast cancer. This is an impressive finding since the proportion of women achieving total tumour eradication with standard chemotherapy[*] for HER2-positive or HER2-negative early breast cancer is less than 20% (range 6-18%).[1] "These new data show that adding capecitabine to epirubicin and docetaxel neoadjuvant regimens when treating women with early breast cancer, results in increased efficacy compared to epirubicin and docetaxel alone.

September 16th, 2009 ANTWERP, Belgium - - Leading Cancer Groups and Archbishop Desmond Tutu Unite in Call to Action in the Fight Against Prostate Cancer ANTWERP, Belgium, September 17 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of influential European advocacy and professional groups are meeting today to call for action by the European Parliament to commit to serious steps to reduce the number of men affected by, and dying from prostate cancer, by ensuring timely access to information, care and support services for men at risk or with prostate cancer. The call to action is being launched during European Urology Week, as part of a new campaign, the Proactive Prostates Initiative, at a meeting in Antwerp, which is being hosted by Europa Uomo and the European Association of Urology.

August 31st, 2009 WILMINGTON, Delaware - The Global Biomarker Market report analyzes the biomarker tools and services market over the period 2009-2014. The report studies the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities for the global biomarker market; and also evaluates the major trends in the macro- and micro-markets with respect to different geographic regions.

July 12th, 2009 VANCOUVER, Canada - Sirius Genomics, a developer of pharmacogenomic diagnostics, announced today that it has signed a collaborative agreement with the Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP) to study genomic correlations in severe sepsis patients. The agreement focuses on the continued development of Sirius' pharmacogenomic diagnostic intended to assess responsiveness to recombinant human activated Protein C (sold by Eli Lilly and Company under the trademark Xigris (R)) in patients with severe sepsis at high risk of death.

June 7th, 2009 VANCOUVER - Sirius Genomics, a developer of pharmacogenomic diagnostics, announced that it has elected its 2009 Board of Directors at its recent Annual General Meeting. The six-member Board consists of: Dr.

June 4th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian researchers have developed gene expression biomarkers which can accurately discriminate pre-cancerous and cancerous colorectal growths from non-cancerous controls. Being presented today at the Digestive Disease Week conference in Chicago, the preliminary findings are the result of a collaborative study - involving CSIRO, Flinders University and Australian healthcare company, Clinical Genomics Pty Ltd - designed to develop an improved screening/diagnostic test for detecting bowel cancer and significant pre-cancer lesions.

May 31st, 2009 ORLANDO, Florida - The time to progression of disease in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases who have exhausted all chemotherapy options can be more than doubled through the use of radioactive resin microspheres, according to the results of a prospective randomized controlled trial presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).[1] The multicenter phase III study compared the use of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) alone to 5FU plus 90Y resin microspheres (SIR-Spheres; Sirtex Medical, Sydney) and was conducted by a collaboration of university hospitals in Belgium. "Patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases who are resistant or intolerant of chemotherapy should be considered for salvage therapy using 90Y resin microspheres combined with 5FU-based chemotherapy," said Dr Alain Hendlisz, Head of Digestive Oncology and Gastroenterology at Institut Jules Bordet Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, and principal investigator of the study.

May 25th, 2009 HUNTINGTON BEACH, California and AMSTERDAM - Agendia Increases U.S. Footprint with Domestic Executive Team and Operations Agendia, a world leader in molecular cancer diagnostics, today announced the opening of its U.S.

May 20th, 2009 HUNTINGTON BEACH, California and AMSTERDAM - Agendia, a world leader in molecular cancer diagnostics, today announced that leading researchers from Agendia, the University of California San Francisco and the Netherlands Cancer Institute will present data from multiple studies at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, May 29 - June 2, 2009, in Orlando, Florida. The study results further underpin the broad predictive and prognostic power of Agendia's breast cancer recurrence test MammaPrint(R) and highlight promising data on Agendia's new colon cancer recurrence test, ColoPrint(TM).

May 6th, 2009 VANCOUVER - Sirius Genomics, a developer of pharmacogenomic diagnostics, announced today that it has signed a collaborative agreement with Vanderbilt University to study patients enrolled in Vanderbilt's Validating Acute Lung Injury biomarkers for Diagnosis (VALID) study. The agreement focuses on the continued development of Sirius' pharmacogenomic diagnostic.

April 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An anti-cancer compound studied for treating blood cancers may also help in treating cancers of the head and neck, say researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The study involved a new class of chemotherapy agents known as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which affect the availability of genes that are transcribed and translated into proteins.

July 22nd, 2009 Anti-meat group sues, says hot dogs need warningsNEWARK, N.J. — Hot dogs may be as American as baseball and apple pie, but an anti-meat advocacy group says they're hazardous to your health and should carry warning labels.

May 6th, 2009 HYDERABAD - MakroCare, a global clinical services firm, provides clinical research support to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, is taking a lead in the training of professionals for the clinical research industry by providing series of informational through workshop and seminars. Advanced GCP workshop will be held at CHITRAMAYEE Auditorium, State Arts Gallery, Kavuri Hills, Madhapur, Hyderabad on May 15.

February 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, undergoing treatment for chest infection at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, continues to be stable and is making steady progress, doctors attending to him said Friday. 'Vajpayee is on a mechanical ventilator and continues to be in the ICU (intensive care unit).

March 14th, 2009 LONDON - Hollywood star Patrick Swayze looks thin and frail as his battle with cancer continues. The 56-year-old has pancreatic cancer and was spotted in Los Angeles with his wife Lisa Niemi shopping for a new car, reports thesun.co.uk.

October 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A clinical trial testing the safety and activity of a human monoclonal antibody (MAB) developed to neutralize the rabies virus has been launched in King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India. Serum Institute of India is working in a collaborative partnership with researchers from University of Massachusetts to manufacture and test the new antibody that would help treat people bitten by rabid animals.

July 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have suggested an improved method for detection of food-borne pathogens. Dr. Edmund Ting, Senior VP of South Easton, MA-based Pressure BioSciences, Inc., believes that improvements in food safety depend on the rapid and accurate detection of food-borne pathogens, both in pre-release quality control testing and in post-outbreak investigations.

April 22nd, 2009 Medical firm caught in federal sting to closeWASHINGTON — A Colorado company that was recently snared by congressional investigators for approving bogus medical tests is closing its doors. Coast IRB said in a statement Thursday it will halt work on roughly 300 clinical trials involving thousands of patients for which it approved research proposals, and transfer them to another company.

July 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Ahmedabad-based Veeda Clinical Research organization is entering Malaysia's medical sector by setting up its advanced research unit at the Ampang Hospital in Kuala Lumpur by the year-end. India's fastest-growing clinical research organisation has selected the Ampang Hospital to conduct first phase clinical trials on humans under a quasi-commercial agreement with the Malaysian Health Ministry, The Star Online reports.

August 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A drug developed back in 1940s has a potential to treat some of the most deadly cancers, it has emerged. Scientists from Institute of Cancer Research in London have discovered that methotrexate, a chemotherapy treatment invented in the 1940s, has the potential to work against a genetic fault called HNPCC.