US Chinese Anti Cancer Association facilitated liver metastasis biomarkers cooperation between Peking University & Aushon BioSystems

Aushon BioSystems and Peking University Cancer Hospital Collaboration to Focus on Predictive Diagnostic Biomarkers for Liver Metastases of Colorectal Cancer

Feb 8, 2011 Aushon BioSystems, Inc., a leading provider of multiplex immunoassay products and services announced that it has signed a letter of intent to enter into a diagnostic development collaboration with Peking University Cancer Hospital ("PUCH"), Beijing, China. The primary goal for the collaboration is to develop predictive diagnostic markers for liver metastases of colorectal cancer utilizing Aushon's proprietary suite of protein biomarker detection technologies, and stratification biomarkers for radio-chemotherapy patients. As part of this collaboration, PUCH and Aushon will further negotiate an agreement to grant Aushon exclusive rights In North America and Europe to certain intellectual property generated from the collaboration for diagnostic applications. The research will be conducted under the leadership of Dr. Jin Gu, MD, FACS, Peking University Cancer Hospital, Peking University. Prof. Gu is a world-renowned expert and clinician on colorectal cancer and liver metastasis. He leads a team of scientists and physicians investigating the mechanisms of colorectal cancer metastasis including the identification of biomarkers to predict which patients may develop metastatic disease in liver. Dr. Gu has established a vast library of patient samples, as well as extensive clinical and post-surgery follow-up data that he and his staff have accumulated over the past several years. "We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with Aushon on this critical clinical research program," said Dr. Gu. "Aushon's technology has already received widespread market acceptance with leading pharmaceutical companies due to its proven reliability and performance in late stage clinical trials, and has the key attributes we identified for a multiplex diagnostic platform. We are very optimistic that this partnership will lead to the discovery and development of predictive diagnostic markers for primary colorectal cancer metastases in liver, and establishment of new treatment strategies to improve outcomes for our patients." "We're extremely excited that Dr. Gu and his exceptional team at the Peking University Cancer Hospital have selected Aushon as a partner for their project," said Joe Blanchard, COO of Aushon. "We believe Aushon's technology and expertise are ideally suited for this diagnostic development program and expect that this will be the first of several such technical collaborations with Peking University Cancer Hospital and other leading research institutions in Asia". The collaboration was initiated and facilitated by the US Chinese Anti-Cancer Association (USCACA). "This collaboration marks another important milestone for USCACA in promoting US-China collaborations in cancer research, drug development, and patient care," remarked Dr. Li Yan, Managing Director of USCACA and adjunct professor at PUCH. "I am thrilled to see PUCH taking a leadership position in the area of personalized medicine, and look forward to the successful results of their collaboration with Aushon." Aushon also recently announced its partnership with LightArray Biotech, a drug development service company located in Wuxi, China. This partnership enables Aushon to provide its multiplex biomarker products and services to pharmaceutical clients in China.