A Medical Device Daily

Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) said it extended its Collaborations in Cancer Research Program (CCRP) to North America, forming an alliance between the company and 25 leading cancer researchers. The expansion builds on the European CCRP, launched in April 2007, Affymetrix said.

All of the researchers in the program are using the company's integrated genomics solution to accelerate research on more than 10 types of cancer. The technology combines copy number data from the SNP Array 6.0 and expression information from the Human Exon 1.0 ST Array, Affymetrix noted.

"We are using the SNP 6.0 arrays to obtain the most comprehensive profile of genomic abnormalities aimed at discovering novel molecular targets," said Tak Mak Wah, PhD, a professor in the department of medical biophysics at the University of Toronto. "The ability to integrate the exon and SNP array data will help us identify candidate driver genes underlying these genomic abnormalities and speed up their validation."

Affymetrix said initial data from the studies would be released in the next three to six months.

As part of the program, Affymetrix said it is partially funding selected research projects that demonstrate clinical utility, in addition to helping participants obtain tools and training, and providing forums where investigators can exchange knowledge and share best practices. The company plans to expand the CCRP program across Asia-Pacific later this year.

In other agreement news:

• Helicos BioSciences (Cambridge, Massachusetts), a company focused on genetic analysis technologies, reported a research collaboration with City of Hope (Duarte, California) focused on cancer molecular diagnostics.

City of Hope will use Helicos' True Single Molecule Sequencing (tSMS) technology to examine known cancer-associated gene variants and to potentially discovery new mutations within those genes.

Helicos' tSMS technology directly sequences single molecules of DNA or RNA. "With the ability to analyze billions of single molecules simultaneously, tSMS technology can directly measure the large sample numbers required to assess the frequency of gene variants within a population of individuals or within a tumor," the company said.

City of Hope is a research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases.

• diaDexus (South San Francisco, California) said it has appointed Fisher HealthCare (Waltham, Massachusetts) as the exclusive customer channel for its new automated PLAC test for the Hitachi, Hitachi Roche P-Modular and Olympus chemistry analyzers to U.S. hospital clinical laboratories. FDA recently cleared the automated format, diaDexus said.

According to the company, the PLAC test is the only blood test cleared by the FDA to assess risk for both coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke associated with atherosclerosis. The test is designed to measure lipoprotein-associated phospholipase, a vascular-specific inflammatory enzyme implicated in the formation of rupture-prone plaque.

diaDexus develops in vitro diagnostic products for cardiovascular disease and oncology. Fisher supplies diagnostic products.

• The Buck Institute for Age Research (Novato, California) and Q Therapeutics (Salt Lake City) have agreed to collaborate on new routes to combat Parkinson's disease.

The Buck Institute and Q Therapeutics plan to use their expertise in differentiating stem cells to provide key cell types needed to study Parkinson's disease. These neural-lineage cell lines will be used to further research aimed at the use of various stem and progenitor cells as a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease, according to the Buck Institute and Q Therapeutics.

The Buck Institute is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to extending the health span, the healthy years of each person's life. Institute scientists work to understand the mechanisms of aging and discover new ways of detecting, preventing and treating age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, cancer, stroke and arthritis, the organization said.

Q Therapeutics, an emerging biopharmaceutical company, has exclusive rights to 16 patents arising out of work done by Mahendra Rao, MD, PhD, at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City) and the National Institutes of Health. The company is developing products to treat diseases of the central nervous system.

• Pelikan Technologies (Palo Alto, California), a developer of hand-held diagnostic and monitoring devices, and Eli Lilly (Indianapolis) have signed a three-year co-promotion agreement to promote awareness and education in the management and treatment of diabetes, including insulin therapy, insulin delivery devices and technological advancements in lancing.

Self-monitoring of blood glucose is a key component of effective diabetes management. People with diabetes must regularly monitor their blood glucose levels, which requires drawing of a drop of blood, ideally from the tips of their fingers, multiple times each day with a lancing device. According to the American Diabetes Association's (Alexandria, Virginia) position statement, "Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes-2007," most people with Type 1 diabetes, as well as people with diabetes who use multiple insulin injections, should test their blood glucose three or more times per day. Pelikan's Pelikan Sun electronic lancing device is an electronic lancing system, which offers comfort while allowing existing finger damage to heal. Such advances are particularly important for children, people newly diagnosed with diabetes and people who test their blood glucose frequently.