Business
Targets Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Asia
Targets Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Asia.
About this update from Oxford Biodynamics Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 8725H Oxford BioDynamics PLC 13 June 2017 \n\n \n \n13 June 2017\n \nOxford BioDynamics Plc\n(\"OBD\" or the \"Company\" and, together with its subsidiaries, the \"Group\")\n \nOxford BioDynamics targets Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Asia\n \nOxford BioDynamics Plc (\"OBD\" or the \"Company\"), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of epigenetic biomarkers based on regulatory genome architecture, for use within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, is to expand its Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) biomarker programme into South East Asia.\n \nSince receiving funding through an Innovate UK grant in December 2014, OBD has been leading a consortium, including the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (University of Oxford), with the aim to discover and validate epigenetic signatures in patients with ALS to be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, using its proprietary EpiSwitch™ platform.\n \nInnovate UK has agreed to expand the project to utilise OBD's Malaysian based ALS network consisting of 30 hospitals, established by OBD's wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary (\"OBDM\"), to collect a South East Asian sample cohort to complement the European cohort being supplied by the Nuffield departments MND clinic. \n \nThe new sample cohort will be used to assess the performance and adapt the EpiSwitch™ assay to a South East Asian cohort with multiple ethnic backgrounds. This expansion opens up an additional market for OBD and will provide a greater understanding of the effects of ethnicity on accurate biomarker stratification of ALS patients across ethnic groups. The project is due to be completed by the end of 2017. \n \nOBD's award-winning, proprietary technology platform, EpiSwitch™ aims to accelerate the drug discovery and development process, improve the success rate of therapeutic product development and take advantage of the increasing importance of personalised medicine. \n \nChristian Hoyer Millar, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioDynamics, said:\n \n\"We are delighted to expand the OBD ALS programme, which started with NEALS and Massachusetts General Hospital and received the important support of Innovate UK, into South East Asia. We now have the opportunity to utilise ...