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news.ParAllele BioScience and Merck & Co have entered into an agreement to discover genetic variations that may influence an individual's susceptibility, prognosis or response to therapy in cancer.
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Under the Merck-funded study, California-based ParAllele will utilize its proprietary single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping technology to characterize the genetic changes in tumor samples identified by Merck. Further terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The deal is significant as understanding genetic diversity among patients could lead to improved drugs. Indeed, ParAllele believes that the understanding of how subtle genetic variations contribute to disease risk, prognosis and drug response will lead to new and more effective drugs, predictive diagnosis, and the ability to better tailor therapies to individual patients.
“Merck has pioneered the application of genetics to cancer, and we are excited about this opportunity to broaden our collaborative relationship,” said Dr Hywel Jones, ParAllele’s senior director of business development. “Our high-throughput technologies allow the determination of changes in copy number in tumors in a very efficient manner.”
ParAllele recently entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Affymetrix. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2005.