NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – German biotech firm Protagen today announced it will be using its UNIarray platform to support Biogen Idec's efforts in finding therapies for multiple sclerosis.
Under the terms of the agreement, the UNIarray platform will be used to retrospectively analyze samples from a Biogen clinical trial in order to find predictive and response biomarkers in relapsing remitting MS. Protagen will also apply its expertise in autoantibody research to the alliance.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"There is an acute need to discover possible response and non-response biomarkers in MS using genomic and proteomic levels," Peter Schulz-Knappe, CSO of Protagen, said in a statement. "Autoantibody signatures play an increasingly important role as a technology platform that could be used to identify patients for optimized treatment efficacy and to monitor disease progression."