Exiqon Diagnostics Launches New ArQive™ Patient Registry for Colon, Lung and Ovarian Cancer

Exiqon today announced the nationwide launch of the ArQive™ Registry, a
prospective, observational study designed to strengthen the supporting data for
the Oncotech Extreme Drug Resistance (EDR®) Assay and to collect data to help
develop novel molecular assays (miRNA) within three key tumor types: colon,
lung and ovarian. 

Exiqon has worked closely with Covance, one of the leading Contract Research
Organizations (CRO) in the world, to design and manage the registry. The ArQive
registry will collect clinical outcome and treatment data from 400 ovarian, 300
colon and 300 lung cancer patients tested with the Oncotech EDR® Assay in order
to evaluate drug resistance prior to being prescribed combination chemotherapy.
The registry will correlate the Oncotech EDR® Assay results and drug treatment
to clinical outcome over a five year period. MiRNA data will also be collected
and used in the development of new diagnostic assays that can better predict
therapeutic response and prognosis. 

The registry will be overseen by Dr. Edith Mitchell, Clinical Professor,
Department of Medical Oncology, Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson
University. Dr. Mitchell is a world renowned medical oncologist in the area of
GI malignancies. 
In the United States, there are approximately 150,000 new colorectal cancer
cases, 200,000 lung cancer cases and 22,000 ovarian cancer cases diagnosed each
year.  Although several chemotherapies may be effective in treating these
cases, cancer patients and their physicians often face difficult choices when
deciding on chemotherapeutic regimens due to individual differences in the
response to chemotherapy and toxicities experienced by each patient. 

The Oncotech EDR® Assay has been shown to be over 99 percent accurate for
predicting lack of clinical response to a chemotherapeutic drug. A controlled
study demonstrated improved survival in those patients who received EDR® Assay
directed therapy compared to those who did not. Furthermore, several additional
studies have demonstrated that cancer patients treated with drugs to which they
are resistant have a significantly shorter disease free interval and overall
survival. 

“This important scientific initiative will be a major contribution to the
growing clinical database on the Oncotech EDR® Assay,” said Cynthia French,
Chief Scientific Officer, Exiqon Diagnostics. “We are excited to offer further
validation that the EDR® Assay is an integral tool in the care and management
of cancer patients and are looking forward to analyzing the miRNA data and
developing it into novel prognostic and predictive assays in the future.” 
   
To learn more about our ArQive Registry, please visit www.exiqondiagnostics.com.

Additional information:
Lars Kongsbak, CEO, tel. +45 45 66 08 88 (cell: +45 40 90 21 01)
R. Erik Holmlin, CCO, tel. +1-714-566-0470
Exiqon Diagnostics Client Services, tel. +1-800-662-6832

See full press release in the attached PDF.