MELVILLE, NY and MADISON, WI--(Marketwire - January 13, 2010) - Population Diagnostics,
Inc. (PDx), a private company developing a new generation of molecular
diagnostic and personalized medicine companion tests, announced today the
appointment of Dr. Peggy Eis as Chief Technology Officer. In this key
leadership role, she will be instrumental in the scale-up of the company's
causative biomarker discovery platform, which promises to reveal the
missing heritability of common diseases (e.g. autism, Parkinson's,
Alzheimer's) as well as the genetic variants predicting efficacy and safety
of targeted drugs. Dr. Eis will have a pivotal role in the
commercialization of PDx's pipeline of personalized medicine tests and will
be executing a strategy that accelerates all processes, from biomarker
discovery through product launch.
"PDx was founded in 2006 on several unconventional principles in genetics
that were not subscribed to by the mainstream scientific community," said
Dr. Eis. "Today these principles are evidence-based and I am excited to be
integrally involved in PDx's key opportunity to transform healthcare. For
example, rare genetic variants were once believed to have little to do with
common diseases and over the last decade conventional technology, wisdom,
and investments have mistakenly focused on the search for common genetic
variants. It's now clear that common variants have metrics that are not
medically relevant enough for clinical utility as they only infer slight
increases in disease risk. In sharp contrast, rare genetic variants, often
in the form of copy number variants (CNVs), have recently been found to
play a larger role in explaining disease than anyone had previously
considered."
PDx's genome-wide biomarker discovery platform systematically, rapidly, and
cost-effectively reveals rare genetic variants. When applied to the study
of common diseases, comprehensive collections of mutations are found with
unprecedented metrics of causality. In the study of a cohort taking a
particular drug, PDx's platform can identify rare genetic variants that
differentiate responders from non-responders, as well as those who may
experience a serious adverse event to that drug. The platform rationally
interprets the human genome primarily by considering the vast spectrum of
'normal' variation within an ethnically diverse population in order to sift
out the small fraction of variants unique to a disease or drug profile. At
the heart of the rare variant discovery platform are recent evidence-based
genome biology concepts such as: 1) any two genomes differ at least 10-fold
more than previously thought, 2) the contribution of CNVs and other
structural variants have a major contribution to genetic variation in
people, 3) a common disease is heterogeneous, meaning that it is actually
many diseases masquerading as one, 4) common diseases are multigenic, that
is, the manifestation of a disease (the phenotype) can be caused by
different genes/mutations but each individual has one main independently
causative rare variant, and 5) personalized medicine will advance only when
genetic subgroups are defined by rare genetic variants.
"Dr. Eis's in-depth industry experience developing technologies for genetic
analysis will be a tremendous asset to the Company going forward," said Jim
Chinitz, Chief Executive Officer. "Additionally, her track record in
exceeding technological milestones in early-stage companies will enable us
to execute our aggressive plans to monetize medically relevant discoveries
and lead the field of personalized medicine. With her commitment, our
proprietary method to uncover rare variants will be the key to finally
revealing the genetic causation of common diseases long promised by the
framers of the human genome project."
Dr. Eis has 15 years of experience in genomics research, product
development, business development, and marketing. She was most recently
Senior Director of Genome Variation at Roche NimbleGen where she oversaw
strategic collaborations and technology development for novel DNA copy
number variant microarray products. Prior to that she was head of the
comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) microarray business at NimbleGen
Systems (acquired by Roche). While at Third Wave Technologies (acquired by
Hologic), Dr. Eis led the development and commercialization of DNA and RNA
detection platforms used in both research and FDA-approved diagnostic
products. Dr. Eis completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps
Research Institute and received her PhD in Biochemistry at the University
of Maryland.
About Population Diagnostics, Inc.
Population Diagnostics, Inc. (PDx, www.populationdiagnostics.com) is
applying its discoveries in human genetics to the development of DNA-based
diagnostics and personalized medicine tests. PDx's technology, which
reveals the genetic causes of complex diseases such as autism, diabetes,
Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's, enables development of early detection
diagnostic tests that predict pre-symptomatically why some individuals will
suffer from debilitating diseases while others will live healthy lives.
When applied to drug discovery, the technology enables pharmaceutical
companies to develop targeted therapies and companion diagnostics. Its
novel technology and exclusive products will place PDx in a prime position
to (i) transform how physicians diagnose and manage disease in their
patients and (ii) enable pharmaceutical companies to expand the number of
available therapies and market drugs with higher efficacy and safety.
