>A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Immunicon (Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania) reported that the company received a four-year grant from the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (Grand Rapids, Michigan) to develop a test to detect minimal residual disease in blood of acute myeloid leukemia patients. Financial details were not disclosed.

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.

"The future of cancer treatment will be targeted and personalized to each patient," said Byron Hewett, president/CEO of Immunicon. "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. [It] will allow Immunicon to expand on the current assay that detects circulating carcinoma cells to circulating leukemia cells."