SurroMed awarded research contract for rheumatoid arthritis study

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SurroMed awarded research contract for rheumatoid arthritis study

Feb 19, 2002 (Datamonitor) - SurroMed has been awarded a subcontract to

undertake clinical phenotyping under a National Institutes of Arthritis

and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases contract entitled 'Autoimmune

Biomarkers Collaborative Network'. Dr K Gregersen of North Shore

Long Island Jewish Research Institute is the principal investigator.

The contract provides funding for a research study that will enroll 240

subjects with rheumatoid arthritis administered anti-TNF therapies,

including Remicade and Enbrel. The primary objective of the study is to

identify biological markers associated with patient response and non

response to these therapies. These markers will serve as the basis for

proprietary diagnostic products. In addition, the study will yield

important data on the activities of these drugs and potential new

approaches for therapeutic intervention in rheumatoid arthritis. " With

our integrated clinical phenotyping technologies, including cytometry,

immunoassay, proteomics and metabolomics, we will collect more data

relating to the onset, progression and response to therapy of rheumatoid

arthritis than has ever been accumulated. We intend to analyze the

phenotypic data along with the gene expression data that will be

generated by Dr Gregersen using our advanced bioinformatics and data

mining capabilities, " said Gordon Ringold, CEO and chairman of SurroMed,

in a statement to the media