Epigenomics Gets What Companies Rarely Do: A Huge Deal

Roche Diagnostics and Epigenomics AG, a start-up diagnostics company, have signed a three-year collaboration to find new cancer diagnostic markers, a deal that could bring Epigenomics as much as $100 million--if all of the markers covered get to market. Epigenomics is working on DNA methylation based biomarkers for cancer and will identify the markers; Roche will develop them into tests and market them worldwide.

The new three-year collaboration between Roche Diagnostics (a division of Roche ) and start-up company Epigenomics AG [See Deal] is striking both because of its value—as an alliance one of the highest-valued deals signed in recent years--and because of the faith it places in DNA methylation technology, which has long been under investigation and is now in the spotlight. (See "Epigenomics GMBH," START-UP, February 2000 Also see "Epigenomics GMBH" - Medtech Insight, 1 February, 2000..)

For many small diagnostics companies, the deal is an enviable model of the kind they would like to achieve with...

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