One goal of the newly formed Proteomics Innovation Network ─ a collection of 13 proteomics companies located in various parts of the world with varied capabilities in sample prep, biomarker discovery, and drug profiling ─ is to speed the development of personalized medicine products.
The companies involved in the network are hoping that their collective skills and specialties will attract biopharmaceutical companies interested in developing drugs targeted to specific proteomic markers in patients.
The PIN includes New Jersey-based functional proteomics profiling firm ProFACT Proteomics; French infectious diseases and proteomics consultancy Horluce BioConsulting; Eprogen, a Drowners Grove, Ill.-based bioanalytical chemistry company specializing in protein separation and analytical tools; Dualsystems Biotech, a Zurich, Switzerland-based contract research organization that houses three protein screening platforms to enable drug discovery and development; Boston's New England Peptide, a producer of custom peptides and polyclonal antibodies for drug, diagnostics, and vaccine discovery organizations; Canadian firm Norton Scientific, a company specializing in macromolecular and nano-particulate analysis for developing measurement tools; and Woburn, Mass.-based sample prep company Covaris.
Other companies in the network are Neolomed Biosciences, Focus Proteomics, Ontario Cancer Biomarker Network, Innova Proteomics, New Liberty Proteomics, and Australian Proteome Analysis Facility.
According to Matthew Kuruc, president of ProFACT Proteomics, since the PIN has just formed, the network has not yet netted any pharmaceutical partners to advance proteomics-based personalized medicine products. One of the reasons for forming the network, however, was to attract biotech and pharmaceutical companies that require a myriad of proteomics-related drug development services that no one company could provide.
"Our goal has been to supply 'sample-to-discovery' solutions, which in many cases cannot be achieved by one service or product provider, within or even outside of our network," Kuruc told PGx Reporter in an e-mail. Due to the different capabilities and disparate locales of the companies in the network, one of the advantages of providing services under the aegis of the PIN is that our "technology and core capabilities have no borders."
The PIN launched about one month ago, and as such the 13 players are currently focused on spreading the word about the network.
"There is no formal financial, business, or legal arrangement within the network," according to Kuruc. "It's all [done with] … good faith. All in the network can explore partnerships or other arrangements that may be formal, as they see fit for their business plans."