Exosome Diagnostics, Lilly pair up

NEW YORK—Exosome Diagnostics and Eli Lilly and Co. havestruck a collaboration agreement to discover and validate biomarkers usingExosome Diagnostics' proprietary EXO50 nucleic acid extraction kit. Per theterms of the agreement, Lilly will be granted early access to ExosomeDiagnostics technology to aid in the identification of key gene mutations andexpression levels in blood that may be linked to drug response and diseaserecurrence. No financial terms for the agreement were disclosed.

"Accessing high-quality messenger and microRNA directly fromfrozen patient fluid samples offers a rapid, cost-effective route to identifyand validate biomarkers, which may be correlated with drug response and diseaserecurrence," James McCullough, CEO of Exosome Diagnostics, commented in astatement. "Lilly has accumulated an extensive and well-annotated clinicalblood sample biobank that provides a unique opportunity to track targetbiomarkers through the clinical trial process and help overcome the limitationsof stored biopsy tissue."

Exosomes are vesicles secreted by all cells into allbiofluids, such as blood, cerebrospinal fluid and urine, and they provide anatural packaging and distribution mechanism for DNA and RNA. ExosomeDiagnostics' rapid exosome isolation and extraction technology yieldshigh-quality DNA and RNA, including full-length mRNA and microRNA from smallamounts of patient biofluids for analysis via PCR, array and sequencinginstruments. Analysis can be done with fresh or frozen samples, in real-timeand retrospectively, and no special preservation methods are required.

"Exosome Diagnostics technology may provide a uniqueopportunity to gain insight into the biology of complex conditions such ascancer and immune disorders," Andrew Schade, senior medical director ofdiagnostic and experimental pathology at Lilly, said in a press release."Exosome technology enables biofluid molecular sampling and the ability tomonitor disease progression in real time. As Lilly explores new ways to pursuepatient tailoring, we'll continue to work with partners to expand ourcapabilities."

This represents the third agreement for Exosome Diagnosticsin as many months. In July, the company signed an agreement with QIAGEN todevelop and commercialize high-performance, co-branded kit products forcapturing and processing RNA and DNA from biofluid exosomes and othermicrovesicles. No financial terms were disclosed, but the companies are aimingto launch their first products in the first half of next year. Last month ExosomeDiagnostics announced a collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine atMount Sinai to research and develop real-time nucleic acid-based body-fluiddiagnostics for personalized medicine. Per the agreement, Exosome will provideMount Sinai researchers with technical and development support as well as earlyaccess to proprietary technology products upgrades.

SOURCE: Exosome Diagnostics press release