Nordic Bioscience and Roche Diagnostics strengthen tie-up

Nordic Bioscience, a growing biomarker company, has strengthened its ongoing collaboration with Roche Diagnostics for the development of proprietary biomarkers involved in tissue breakdown and build-up.

Nordic Bioscience specialises in Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM) biomarker development that can provide fast and objective decision-making for compound selection and development in clinical trials as well as provide value for patients in a diagnostic setting.

Under the collaboration, Nordic Bioscience will transfer blood-based biomarkers to Roche Diagnostics to be implemented on the automated COBAS platform. Nordic Bioscience’s ECM biomarkers are for all chronic diseases involving tissue fibrosis and inflammation. The collaboration aims to facilitate better clinical decisions in drug development and patient selection as well as enrichment for precision medicine and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Nordic Biosciences has a long collaboration with Roche Diagnostics. To date, two biomarkers have been commercialised and implemented on the Roche automated COBAS platform. Nordic Bioscience’s fibrogenesis biomarker PRO-C3 has become a commonly used next-generation and non-invasive biomarker to quantify type III collagen formation which is highly relevant for NASH and other fibrotic diseases.

PRO-C6 quantifies type VI collagen formation, which is highly relevant for cardiovascular diseases and various cancer types. The FDA recently published a letter of support for further studies of PRO-C6 as a trial enrichment and patient selection biomarker in relation to Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF).

PRO-C3 and PRO-C6 are part of Nordic Bioscience’s portfolio of ECM biomarkers which are being developed and commercialised both as research tools and in the future as diagnostic products. Both biomarkers have completed the technical development from manual ELISA to automated version on the COBAS platform. They are validated and currently running in routine in the CAP-accredited laboratory of Nordic Bioscience.

Morten Karsdal, chief executive officer of Nordic Bioscience, said: “The collaboration with Roche Diagnostics is an important step for Nordic Bioscience in our efforts to help accelerate drug development. Having our biomarkers on the Roche Diagnostics’ platform and our combined capabilities will secure global availability of our best ECM biomarkers. This also adds significant value to Nordic Bioscience offerings as we transform our biomarkers from tools used only in clinical development to globally available diagnostics products.”