NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Exosome Diagnostics said today that it has entered into an agreement with Merck KGaA, in which it will help further the company's drug development efforts.
The collaboration will cover therapeutic development in oncology and other disease areas, and will use Exosome's proprietary technology platforms for nucleic acid and protein detection from circulating exosomes, the firm said.
This will include access to Exosome's recently launched Shahky instrument for exosomal protein capture and quantitative analysis.
The agreement with Merck is the first Exosome has announced publicly that involves access to Shahky. Exosome says the platform can overcome background noise by selectively targeting disease-specific exosomes and removing confounding protein content that isn't relevant to the disease or other target in question.
Exosome launched the early access program for Shahky last week. According to the company, the platform was tested and its performance validated in a leading Boston hospital, but the company has not shared details on this collaboration.