Manchester, 17th August 2009 DxS Ltd, a personalised medicine company and leader in the provision of companion diagnostics, has today announced the appointment of Dr. David Jackson as Vice President of Business Development and Licensing. Dr. Jackson will be responsible for planning and executing business development efforts for the companion diagnostics and technology licensing business units of DxS and will be based in the US.
Dr. Jackson was most recently with Response Genetics, Inc. as Executive Vice President and has extensive consulting experience in personalized medicine. Before this he was president and chief operating officer at of CryoFluor Therapeutics. During his career Jackson has held positions including private and public company investment analyst, product and corporate development, and Intellectual Property management roles. He holds a PhD in Physiology and Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine, is trained as a US Patent Agent and holds several US securities licenses.
Peter Collins, SVP Business Development of DxS said: “David brings with him broad experience in the healthcare sector and specifically personalised medicine. His capabilities in business development and strategy will be invaluable as DxS continue to expand and seek new partners.”
Dr. Jackson’s appointment is part of DxS’ continued plan for growth, which has seen the Company more than double in size within the last twelve months with new manufacturing space taken on at their Manchester site. In 2008 DxS signed a global distribution agreement with Roche Molecular Diagnostics for their TheraScreen brand of diagnostic kits, and a deal which has seen Amgen and Merck Serono/Bristol Myers Squibb use DxS’ TheraScreen: K-RAS Mutation Kit as a companion diagnostic for the colorectal cancer treatment Vectibix® and Erbitux®. In May DxS announced a deal with Boehringer Ingelheim to provide a companion diagnostic test kit for BIBW 2992 (Tovok™), and in July a deal with Astra Zeneca to develop a companion diagnostic for use with IRESSA™ (gefitinib).
DxS is a personalised medicine company providing molecular diagnostics to aid doctors and drug companies in selecting therapies for patients. Working in partnership with pharmaceutical companies, DxS will support the development and sales of targeted cancer therapies by providing biomarkers and companion diagnostics. Since its founding in 2001, DxS has experienced considerable growth and firmly established itself as a leader in companion diagnostics, having recently secured deals with leading healthcare companies such as Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca. In addition, DxS has an exclusive agreement with Roche Diagnostics for the global distribution of its diagnostic products.
DxS has a portfolio of cancer mutation products including both diagnostic and assays for research use. The TheraScreen® range of CE-marked (IVD) diagnostic* kits can identify genetic tumour mutations that affect how patients respond to cancer therapies, thus enabling doctors to provide the most beneficial treatment. DxS currently produce two diagnostic kits, TheraScreen K-RAS and TheraScreen EGFR29. The TheraScreen: K-RAS Mutation kit is a companion diagnostic for Vectibix® (Amgen) and Erbitux® (Merck KGaA) for the treatment of colorectal cancer.
DxS is a private, venture capital-backed company operating from the heart of Manchester’s Technology Quarter in the UK.
For further information please visit www.dxsdiagnostics.com
