Debiopharm, Immunexpress and Biocartis Announce Collaboration

Debiopharm will fund the validation and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of SeptiCyte Triage, an assay for the early diagnosis of sepsis. Biocartis will subsequently fund the development and commercialization of the validated SeptiCyte Triage assay on its fully integrated molecular diagnostics platform. This platform – which includes an instrument, communication console, and single use, disposable cartridges – can detect and quantify multiple DNA- or RNA-based biomarkers in a wide variety of patient sample types with minimal user intervention in less than 90 minutes.

“The synergy created by this partnership is not only important for the continued development and future availability of SeptiCyte Triage – but it also exemplifies Immunexpress’ commitment to innovative science and partnerships that improve outcomes for clinicians and patients”, said Dr Roslyn Brandon, President and CEO, Immunexpress. “With accuracy significantly better than procalcitonin, bringing SeptiCyte Triage onto Biocartis’ revolutionary point-of-need multiplex qRT-PCR platform will enable clinicians to more quickly and accurately identify and triage patients suspected of sepsis».

Greg Parekh, Biocartis’ CEO, commented: “Biocartis is striving to bring more effective, individualized treatments within reach of patients through the availability of high quality diagnostics at the point of need. Sepsis is a major cause of death where timely accurate diagnostic information can make a significant difference in medical outcomes”.

“Debiopharm is enthusiastic to join forces with Immunexpress and Biocartis and to take an additional step in our strong commitment to personalized medicine”, said Thierry Mauvernay, Debiopharm’s delegate of the board, who added, “The collaboration opens the door to exploit synergies between the three companies by addressing this life-threatening condition from different perspectives, particularly from a health economics one. Supporting better management of sepsis may ultimately lead to a reduction in mortality, better outcomes and possibly the discovery of new therapies”.

Debiopharm Group, founded in 1979, is a Swiss-based global biopharmaceutical group of companies with a focus on the development of prescription drugs that target unmet medical needs. Biocartis founded in 2007 in Lausanne is a rapidly growing company; to date Biocartis staff includes over 120 people. The company raised in total EUR 125 million in equity.