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Targeted Molecular Diagnostics Announces New Collaboration With Researchers at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Posted on: Monday, 21 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

Targeted Molecular Diagnostics (TMD), an oncology focused specialty reference laboratory that specializes in the application of molecular pathology, announced new collaborative work with researchers at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. TMD has been working along with the laboratory of Dr. Khandan Keyomarsi, studying cell cycle regulators in breast cancer. Work from this venture, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in November of 2002, highlighted the potential prognostic significance of cyclin E in patients with Stage I-III breast cancer.

In this latest collaboration, investigators at MDACC and TMD will be studying the relevance of cyclin E in predicting the outcome for patients undergoing liver surgery for metastasis from colon cancer.

"We are delighted to enter into this collaboration with such renowned scientists," states Dr. Sarah Bacus, Founder, Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Executive Officer of TMD, "we believe this research collaboration will further enhance our ability to develop new biologic markers for molecular and biological tests for metatastic colon cancer, which are key to successful treatment intervention."

Colon cancer is the third most common malignancy in the United States. Recurrence of the tumor in the liver is a common site of spread of the disease. Although 25-40 percent of patients with isolated liver metastasis can be cured with surgery, a significant number of patients will not benefit from such aggressive intervention.

Clinical factors - such as length of time between initial tumor diagnosis and recurrence, tumor marker level, size and number of tumors in the liver - are frequently used to determine whether patients may benefit from aggressive surgery for the metastasis. However, these clinical parameters remain inexact and biologic markers are under study to improve the selection of patients with this disease for liver resection. TMD will test the tumor tissues from such patients for expression of cyclin E and will correlate to long-term outcome.

ABOUT TARGETED MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS, LLC:

TMD is a privately held, oncology focused, specialty reference laboratory. TMD provides bio-pharmaceutical companies with biomarker assays for molecular targeted drugs, from pre-clinical to First Time in Humans (FTIH), and through Phase II and Phase III clinical trials. In addition, TMD helps define subpopulations of tumors that will respond to targeted cancer therapies by understanding the drug mechanism of action. As a result, it is possible to accelerate the time to regulatory approval. TMD applies cutting-edge in vitro assays to enable pre-treatment patient assessment, and identifies markers that predict response and adverse events. Based on this information, TMD is developing predictive tests for managing cancer patients, by defining molecular characteristics of their tumors to guide targeted therapy. Further information about TMD can be found on the company's web site at www.tmdlab.com.

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