The Dept of Pathology at the Uppsala University Hospital evaluates Biotage's new Pyrosequencing® platform for clinical diagnostics in oncology

The Dept of Pathology at the Uppsala University Hospital evaluates Biotage's new
Pyrosequencing® platform for clinical diagnostics in oncology 

PyroMarkTMQ24 is the new Biotage Pyrosequencing® platform, which is being
launched in March. The Molecular Pathology at the Dept of Pathology, Uppsala
University Hospital, is evaluating the new PyroMark Q24TM to implement the
Pyrosequencing® technology in cancer diagnostics.

Several novel drugs against the growth hormone receptor EGFR have been recently
approved for the treatment of advanced colorectal- and lung cancer. The efficacy
of all of these drugs is strongly connected to the mutation status of the gene
k-ras. Many studies give evidence that patients with k-ras mutation do not
response to EGFR-inhibitor treatment; in contrast patients without mutation are
much more likely to benefit significantly from this therapy in these often fatal
cancer forms.

Biotage provides an established assay for the determination of this clinical
relevant mutation. The assay determines contiguous, multi-variable mutations at
codons 12 and 13 of the K-ras gene, as well as rare mutations in codon 61.
Initial focus of the molecular pathology group is to test the k-ras assay on the
new PyroMarkTMQ24 platform for clinical cancer diagnostics. Dr. Patrick Micke
from the Dept of Pathology stresses the clinical importance to implement robust
and sensitive molecular analyses in cancer diagnostics. “We have had good
experience with the PyroMark system within a previous clinical research project.
Therefore we were interested in extending the collaboration into clinical
practice. As a result we are able to provide the mutation analysis already today
for clinicians. In the next month we will carefully test the system and, in
cooperation with other pathology centers, compare it to other methods.”


“We are very pleased to collaborate with the Uppsala University Hospital. Our
future strategy is to explore the diagnostic and clinical research market with
our innovative solutions for genetic analysis. We believe that the new Biotage
Pyrosequencing® platform together with new diagnostic kits is coming to play an
important role in future genomic cancer diagnostics. Genomic analysis of cancer
associated genes might predict prognosis, tendency of disease recurrence, or the
response to different cancer therapies. The collaboration with Dr. Micke and his
team is one of several efforts that we expect to lead into further future
product developments.” says Torben Jørgensen, CEO & President of Biotage.

Contact:									
Torben Jörgensen, President and CEO					
Tel: +46 707 49 05 84, torben.jorgensen@eu.biotage.com

About Biotage 
Biotage is a global company active in life science research with strong
technologies, a broad range of operations and a long-term view of the market.
The company offers solutions, knowledge and experience in the areas of genetic
analysis and medicinal chemistry. In 2005 operations and products were acquired
from the American company Argonaut, further strengthening the medicinal
chemistry product range. The customers include the worlds top 30 pharmaceutical
companies, the worlds top 20 biotech companies, and leading academic institutes.
The company is headquartered in Uppsala and has offices in the U.S., Japan, UK,
Germany and several other European countries. Biotage has 336 employees and had
sales of 496,4 MSEK in 2007. Biotage is listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange
Stockholm AB. Website: www.biotage.com 

About the Molecular Pathology Unit at the Department of Pathology:
The molecular pathology facility provides a divisional resource for molecular
testing of human tissue specimens with diagnostic purpose. Clinical activities
include the molecular analyses of haematological and solid tumour malignancies,
as well as the detection of oncogenic viral infections. Molecular testing can be
applied as supplements for diagnostics but also to predict response to therapy
or provide prognostic information. Additionally, the facility provides a
state-o-the-art equipped platform to develop, evaluate and establish upcoming
molecular analyses at the intersection of research and clinical application. 
The Molecular Pathology is located in the Rudbeck Laboratory that is a joint
venture between Uppsala University Hospital and Uppsala University and a
substantial investment in genetic and cancer research. It houses research groups
in genetics, pathology, tumour biology, oncology, radiation science and
immunology, as well as the clinical departments of pathology, clinical genetics
and immunology. Website: www.rudbeck.uu.se