A Medical Device Daily

Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, Florida) and Xceed Molecular (Wellesley, Massachusetts), a developer of gene-expression analysis systems, reported that Moffitt has joined Xceed's Strategic Collaborator Program and granted Xceed a worldwide, exclusive license to a gene signature for colon cancer.

Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

This colon cancer-specific gene signature, one of many technologies developed at Moffitt, was discovered by Timothy Yeatman, MD, Steven Eschrich, PhD, and Gregory Bloom, PhD.

The focus of the current collaboration is to develop a new molecular test that is more predictive of patient prognosis than currently available assays. Xceed will work with the Moffitt team, which also includes Steven Enkemann, PhD, to complete the clinical development and validation of the gene signature, which is designed to predict the likelihood of disease-free survival of patients with colon cancer using biopsy tissues from a colonoscopy.

Moffitt is collaborating with Xceed research scientists to finalize the list of genes in the signature that will be included on the colon cancer TipChip (the consumable microarray device used by Xceed's Ziplex System).

Xceed will run the first samples in its Expression Services Laboratory in Toronto to optimize the performance of the signature on the Ziplex platform. Xceed will also provide a Ziplex System to the Moffitt team, which will complete additional validation studies.

Together, Moffitt and Xceed will determine the clinical utility of the colon cancer TipChip and the technical and commercial feasibility of developing a diagnostic test.