Avantra Biosciences this week said that it will work with TGen Drug Development, or TD2, to test and develop applications for its Q400 Biomarker Workstation.
Launched this week, the Q400 is an automated multiplex immunoassay system that can be used to evaluate the associations between elevated protein levels, unique patient characteristics, and drug responses. Woburn, Mass.-based Avantra also launched its Angio Qx BioChip Immunoassay, which it claims can be used to measure biomarkers that can predict how cancer patients will respond to new drug therapies.
TD2, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., assists drug-development firms in moving laboratory discoveries through the pre-clinical, clinical, and regulatory approval steps. Avantra said that TD2's pharma clients could use its platform to identify appropriate biomarkers for use with drugs in development.
The firm also hopes that the collaboration will allow it to expand its menu of assays. Avantra CEO Brian McKernan said in a statement that the partnership could "enable Avantra to expedite the release of new oncology-focused QPDx BioChip panels, and enable TD2 to couple advanced multiplex protein technologies with their innovative drug profiling platform."
Financial terms of the deal were not discussed.