AltheaDx Expands Genotyping Menu for Drug Metabolism

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - April 22, 2009) - AltheaDx announced today the launch of its Affymetrix Drug Metabolizing Enzymes & Transporter (DMET) genotyping microarray service. The new service provides biopharmaceutical clients with the world’s most comprehensive way to measure the genetics of drug metabolism in clinical trial patients -- giving drug developers the opportunity to select patients that are more likely to respond.

AltheaDx will provide its customers with a report featuring a patient’s genetic data in an interpretable format that can be directly integrated into existing protocols. This is made possible by leveraging software tools to translate raw genetic data from each patient into a conventional star allele nomenclature (i.e., CYP2D6*5 or CYP2C19*2), with which biopharma project teams are familiar.

“A critical element of our daily operation is the support of our biopharma partners in data analysis,” said Qiang Xu, Ph.D., Director of R&D, AltheaDx. “In clinical development that becomes even more important because of the compressed timelines that occur in a trial. Providing data that our partners can plug into existing analysis methods becomes a real time-saver.”

The DMET report includes biomarker analysis from all FDA-validated genes and more than 150 well-documented biomarkers known to impact drug metabolism. In addition to these proven biomarkers, the report contains information on a total of 1,936 genetic variants in 225 enzyme and transporter genes, making it a useful tool for exploratory pharmacokinetic studies to identify new biomarkers such as variants in CYP4F2, recently discovered using DMET to explain 8% of warfarin dosing variability.

“Our customers will have a single report, from a single test, to look at proven genetic variations and valid biomarkers that may be affecting drug metabolism of their compounds,” said Tommy Broudy, Ph.D., Director of Sales, Biomarkers, AltheaDx. “Taking this comprehensive approach is critical, particularly when preclinical hypotheses about specific variations don’t prove out, and questions remain about potential dosing or drug response issues.”

The DMET microarray service is an expansion of the AltheaDx offering, which includes all Affymetrix expression microarrays; 3' IVT, Gene Array and Exon Arrays, along with SNP 6.0 genotyping arrays.

About AltheaDx

AltheaDx is bringing theranostics into clinical use. The goal of AltheaDx is to reduce the time and risk of therapeutic development and to provide high-value testing services. For additional information, please visit: www.altheadx.com.