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Epistem plc and AstraZeneca Complete Plucked Ha...
Epistem plc and AstraZeneca Complete Plucked Ha....
About this update from Genedrive Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n\n\n\nMANCHESTER, England, February 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Epistem plc (LSE:EHP) \nannounced today that it had successfully completed\na preliminary study with AstraZeneca for the use of its proprietary,\nminimally invasive plucked human hair biomarker technology to help steer\noncology drug development. The technology includes analysing gene expression\nchange in RNA extracted from the bulb of cells located at the base of a\nsingle human plucked hair. Changes in gene expression can be used to identify\nbiomarkers ('core gene sets') to aid decision-making in the drug development\nprocess.\n\n\n\n The companies have demonstrated that single plucked hairs sampled over\nmultiple time points provide effective levels of RNA for gene expression\nmeasurement. The study also showed that the process was well tolerated by\nsubjects and samples proved robust during shipment and storage. Over 85% of\nhairs sampled were evaluable for measurement. Further analysis of single\nhairs also established reliable detection of over 13,000 genes in single\nhairs, which can be used to establish 'core gene sets' for biomarker drug\ndiscovery, validation and patient selection. A joint scientific abstract of\nthe study was recently presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC meeting in San\nFrancisco.\n\n\n\n The hair biomarker provides the industry with a potentially powerful tool\nto measure the effects of new cancer treatments and their translation from\npreclinical through to clinical phases, enabling more informed go/no go\ndecisions to be undertaken at an earlier stage. The identification of\nappropriate biomarkers within drug development is gaining greater importance\nwith the launch last year of The Biomarkers Consortium founded by The\nFoundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), the National\nInstitutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the\nPharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). AstraZeneca is\nan active member of the consortium, with the consortium's aim to identify new\nbiomarkers that could accelerate the delivery of new clinical treatments and\nmedicines for prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of disease.\n\n\n\n Epistem and AstraZeneca plan to explore hair follicle core gene sets\nbased on drug-induced gene expression in pathways of interest for specific\ntherapeutics. Identified gen...