Alliance for Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnostics

New diagnostic products for rheumatoid arthritis patients that will enable individualized programs of care and medical intervention are the goals of a three-year alliance formed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, USA) and Roche Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland). Millennium and Roche will exclusively collaborate to develop markers for early detection, prognosis, and monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis.

The research will utilize Millennium's proteomics technologies and Diagnomic product development and personalized medicine initiatives. Diagnomic products are molecular diagnostics that describe a patient's current medical condition and provide prognostic and therapeutic information. Proteomics can lead to more specific, highly sensitive tests that allow patient-specific definition and prognosis of disease, resulting in an individualized, comprehensive course of treatment.

Diagnostic products resulting from the alliance will be brought to market by Roche, while Millennium will receive a licensing fee, funding for research, and milestone payments and royalties. "The combination of Roche's world-class strength in diagnostics with Millennium's strong position in genomics and proteomics will bring revolutionary diagnostic products to market,” said Heino von Prondzynski, head of Roche's diagnostic division.



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