Singapore firm to tap pharma's growing diagnostic needs
This article was originally published in Scrip
A new joint venture set up to develop and commercialise molecular diagnostic assays for pharmaceutical and biotech industry customers has begun operations in Singapore.
Dx Assays will focus on infectious diseases and oncology and is aiming to provide contract services and products across the development cycle, for use in identifying promising drug candidates through to determining which patients are genetically predisposed to respond to a particular product.
The firm was incorporated at the end of last year and is a joint venture between the Bio*One life science venture capital arm of Singapore's Economic Development Board and the Netherlands-based testing and analysis company Qiagen. While the total investment amount is undisclosed, this is in the double-digit millions of US dollars range, with Qiagen as the minority shareholder, Scrip understands. 16 people are employed initially under CEO Dr Michael Paumen, with plans to expand the workforce to around 36 in 2010.
Experts have been predicting the convergence of the diagnostics and drugs sectors for some years, particularly in oncology, which has already seen the emergence of molecular targeted therapies. As part of an expected shift towards tailored treatments, the view is that tests will be used to genetically profile individual disease states to allow early detection and treatment, identify those most likely to respond to a particular drug and optimise dosing.
"The emergence of molecular diagnostics is one of the most important developments in the [biomedical] field over the past 25 years and we are seeing a fundamental shift towards more personalised, early disease detection and intervention," Bio*One CEO Chu Swee-Yeok commented at Dx Assay's inauguration.
The EDB expected the firm's location to facilitate collaborations with local and regional research facilities and drug discovery ventures, while Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz also pointed to the emerging importance of China as a market. Molecular testing is an important weapon against the spread of infectious diseases common in the region, such as hepatitis and H5N1 bird flu viruses, he said.
Singapore's National University Hospital is already conducting a clinical trial to investigate the use of genetic testing to precisely optimise warfarin dosing in cardiovascular disease patients, which it expects to complete next year. The university has already discovered some ethnic sensitivities, with Indian patients typically requiring higher doses than those of Chinese or Malay extraction, for example.
Dx Assays is expected to produce its first assays by the end of this year and to supply its first products within the next few years, which will be fed into Qiagen's Asian and global network. Qiagen, which is providing know-how and training to Dx, noted that Asia is its fastest growing market, and that it would make approval submissions next year for a new human papilloma virus test for use in developing areas.