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Residual Disease Test |
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Immunicon Corporation Receives Grant to Develop Test for
Residual Disease in Leukemia Patients
Other Topics:
Wireless Health Services
Immunicon Corporation
April 22, 2008
Diagnostic Test Will Leverage Immunicon Technology and
Enhance Personalized Therapy Options for Leukemia
Huntingdon Valley, PA -- Immunicon Corporation (NASDAQ CM:IMMC)
announced today that the company received a four-year grant from
the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM) to
develop a test to detect minimal residual disease in blood of
Acute Myeloid Leukemia patients. Using current methods,
detection can only be done by taking regular bone marrow
aspirates, which are typically very painful to extract for the
patient. The program is planned to launch in September 2008 and
is designed to broaden the number of personalized therapies
available to patients.
Financials were not disclosed. |
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Byron
D. Hewett, CEO and President of Immunicon Corporation commented,
"The future of cancer treatment will be targeted and
personalized to each patient. This grant funds the development
of Immunicon’s capture, detection and FISH reagents which we
believe will help bridge the gap between current cancer
treatment methods and more patient-friendly techniques. The
grant will allow Immunicon to expand on the current assay that
detects circulating carcinoma cells to circulating leukemia
cells."
Immunicon joins an international consortium
of partners for the CTMM grant including Skyline Diagnostics BV,
Crosslinks BV, Flexgen, and Atos Origin. Academic partners in
the investigations include the Institute for Medical Technology
Assessment, VU Medisch Centrum, Universitair Medisch Centrum
Utrecht, Edinburgh University and Erasmus Medisch.
Bob Löwenberg, Professor of Hematology and 18-year Department
Chair at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The
Netherlands stated, "The challenge is to identify differences in
the leukemia or multiple myeloma tumors to assess and select the
optimal treatment strategy for individual patients. To produce
meaningful results, a large amount of genetic data has to be
correlated with multiple clinical parameters, involving the
extensive use of bio-informatics, ICT and analytical software to
determine the genetic fingerprints needed to develop new
diagnostic tools and devices."
Löwenberg continued, "Diagnosis in Leukemia
has become an art of distinction. The ongoing discovery of
genomic alterations in varieties of leukemias has revealed a
dazzling diversity which markedly influences the clinical
management of these diseases. The CTMM program for leukemia will
give an enormous stimulus to the development of various
innovative technologies for diagnosis and prognosis in leukemia
and myeloma that should generate new useful tools for
personalized therapeutics."
About Center for Translational Molecular Medicine
The Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM) of
Eindhoven, The Netherlands is dedicated to the development of
medical technologies that enable the design of new and
"personalized" treatments for the main causes of mortality and
diminished quality of life (cancer and cardiovascular diseases
and, to a lesser extent, neurodegenerative and infectious
diseases) and the rapid translation of these treatments to the
patient. CTMM is a public-private consortium that comprises a
multidisciplinary group of parties – universities, academic
medical centers, medical technology enterprises and chemical and
pharmaceutical companies. For more information, visit
www.ctmm.nl.
About Immunicon Corporation
Immunicon Corporation is developing and
commercializing proprietary cell- and molecular-based human
diagnostic and life science research products, and is providing
certain analytical services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies to assist them in developing new therapeutic agents,
with an initial focus on cancer disease management. Immunicon
has developed platform technologies to identify, count and
characterize a small number of rare cells in blood, such as
circulating tumor cells and circulating endothelial cells that
are important in many diseases and biological processes.
Immunicon’s products and underlying technology platforms also
have application in cancer research and may have applications in
other fields of medicine, such as cardiovascular and infectious
diseases. For more information, please visit www.immunicon.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are often preceded
by words such as “hope,” “may,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “plan,”
“expect,” “intend,” “assume,” “will” and similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements contained in this press release
include, among others, statements regarding the anticipated
clinical utility of Immunicon’s products and other statements
not of historical fact. Immunicon cautions investors not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date of this press release, are based on
the current expectations and intent of the management of
Immunicon and involve certain factors, such as risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to be far different
from those suggested by these statements. These statements are
not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and
uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including, but not
limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: Immunicon’s
ability to continue as a going concern; Immunicon’s dependence
on Veridex, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company; the risks and
uncertainties with the arbitration proceeding with Veridex and
the award in favor of Veridex given Immunicon’s dependencies on
Veridex; the ability to earn license and milestone payments
under Immunicon’s agreement with Veridex; Immunicon’s capital
and financing needs; research and development and clinical trial
expenditures; commercialization of product candidates;
Immunicon’s ability to obtain licenses from third parties to
commercialize products; Immunicon’s ability to manage its
growth; obtaining necessary regulatory approvals; reliance on
third party manufacturers and suppliers; reimbursement by third
party payors to Immunicon’s customers; compliance with
applicable manufacturing standards; retaining key personnel;
delays in the development of new products or planned
improvements to products; effectiveness of products compared to
competitors’ products; protection of Immunicon’s intellectual
property; conflicts with third party intellectual property;
product liability lawsuits that may be brought against Immunicon;
labor, contract or technical difficulties; and competitive
pressures in Immunicon’s industry. These factors are discussed
in more detail in Immunicon’s filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Immunicon
accepts no responsibility for updating the information contained
in this press release beyond the published date, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, or for
modifications made to this document by Internet or wire
services.
“Immunicon,” “CellTracks”
and the Immunicon Corporation logo are registered trademarks of
Immunivest Corporation, a subsidiary of Immunicon Corporation.
Repeat-Free is a trademark of Immunivest Corporation. Poseidon
is a trademark of Kreatech Diagnostics. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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