Nantes, France, April 28, 2009 - TcLand Expression, a world leader in the field of gene expression biomarkers in immunology, today announced that the French state innovation agency Oseo Innovation has awarded the company €1.8 million in innovation support for developing its in-house KRej-X® (Kidney Rejection EXpression) research project. It aims at developing and clinically validating a noninvasive biomarker of chronic humoral rejection in kidney transplant, based on the measure of gene expression levels.
Early prediction of the long-term, post-transplantation prognosis is a major issue, since it enables therapy to be adapted to match the risk of graft rejection in a given recipient.
“Since the company was founded, we have been focused on the use of blood tests from kidney transplant patients with sign of chronic humoral rejection. Our study, in this research programme aims at validating the developed KRej-X® signature as a diagnostic tool in a prospective clinical trial”, says Marina Guillet CSO.
The breakthroughs of this project should significantly improve monitoring of transplant patients with better and earlier treatment of chronic rejection. In this project, a large collection of samples will be collected providing one of the largest worldwide biocollections in this research area.
“This funding from Oseo Innovation confirms the major potential of this new generation of diagnostic tools of personalized medicine. These tools are going to radically change the way we treat patients suffering from serious diseases (transplants, auto-immune disease,..). TcLand Expression is proud to be able to contribute to the development of these biomarkers. We are particularly grateful to Oseo - a key stakeholder in innovation in France - and its support for our corporate development since 2002”, emphasized Alain Huriez, TcLand Expression’s President and CEO.
Transplantation
Today, more than 250,000 Europeans live with a transplanted organ and 80,000 are on a transplantation waiting list. Given that early diagnostic of a graft rejection enables rapid and effective patient management and the avoidance of graft rejection, improving transplantation outcomes (i.e. increasing the transplant life span) is a major challenge in public health.
About TcLand Expression
TcLand Expression is a recognized pioneer in the discovery, the development and the validation of gene expression biomarkers for unmet medical needs in transplantation and auto-immune disease. The company benefits from an exceptional scientific and clinical environment. For more information, please visit our website http://www.tcland-expression.com/
About OSEO:
The French state agency OSEO fosters innovation and growth in SMEs via its three core activities: innovation support, loan guarantees and corporate finance (equity, asset and operating cycle investments). It offers financial solutions for all the critical phases in corporate development; incorporation, innovation, export development and M&A activity. OSEO helps entrepreneurs take and mitigate risks by ensuring (in collaboration with the banks) a smooth funding continuum. As such, OSEO is a key element in the SME stimulus package initiated by the French government in October 2008.
www.oseo.fr
