German CRO Cenix BioScience has signed a deal with a BASF subsidiary to help ferret out new biomarkers, focusing on the growing field of metabolomics.
Through its partnership with BASF's Metanomics Health, Cenix will profile metabolites--which are essentially the leftovers of chemical reactions in cells--to better understand an undisclosed disease. The first assignment is target validation, the companies said, and Cenix will use its Definiens XD imaging platform to map out genes determined by its partner.
On the whole, the two hope to develop new biomarkers, tapping the promise of metabolomics to shed light on disease progression and help target future therapies, CEO Christophe Echeverri said.
"We foresee very strong synergies between our own capabilities and the exciting approach taken by Metanomics Health towards biomarker discovery and validation," Echeverri said in a statement. "We appreciate and value the trust of our colleagues at Metanomics Health and look forward to advancing their programs."
For Cenix, the deal comes on the heels of a target-discovery agreement with Bayer, signed in May, and a 2013 biomarker partnership with Debiopharm that will also put its Definiens technology to use. All of the agreements hinge on the CRO's expertise in genome-scale screening, something the company says it has honed over 15 years of operation.
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