ROTTERDAM (the Netherlands) and SAN DIEGO (US), February 4, 2020: SkylineDx is excited to announce the scientific collaboration with the Multiple Myeloma (blood cancer) specialized department of the Wuerzburg University Medical Center II under the leadership of Prof. Dr. med. Martin Kortüm and Dr. med. Leo Rasche. Their laboratory is part of the first German hospital to implement and assess a new technique to measure the aggressiveness of multiple myeloma by investigating the genetic information of the disease per individual patient. This technique is known as the diagnostic test MMprofiler with the SKY92 algorithm and its result is based on the expression of 92 genes measured in the cancerous cells. The primary objective of this German study is to show the reliability and success rate of the Dutch developed test in a real-world setting and compare it against the hospital’s own used clinical standard. The first patients have been included as of this year. All patients that consent to participate, will be followed over a period of 5 years. The secondary objectives are to evaluate the patients’ response to given treatments in relation to the aggressiveness of their disease (what works well for which patient), the period a patient stays in remission and the survival of patients at 5 years.
“The year could not have started better then with the news that a global expert center in the field of multiple myeloma started profiling patients with our diagnostic test”, says Dharminder Chahal, CEO SkylineDx, the company that developed the MMprofiler with SKY92 algorithm. “Internationally recognized research institutes and clinical guidelines recommend using these risk-markers to get a true understanding of the aggressiveness of the disease. Physicians and their patients could use this information to navigate the very complex clinical landscape where 18 drugs are currently on the market that could potentially be used in any combination”.
“We are excited to have this innovative diagnostic tool in our hands”, says Professor Martin Kortüm from the Myeloma section of the University Hospital in Würzburg. “We know that high risk disease in Multiple Myeloma needs to be treated differently and SKY92 GEP testing will help us to better identify such patients with aggressive disease” adds his colleague, attending physician Dr. Leo Rasche.
About SkylineDx
SkylineDx is a high-tech commercial-stage biotech company headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and a CAP/CLIA certified laboratory in San Diego, California, USA. The company uses its expertise to bridge the gap between academically discovered gene expression signatures and commercially available diagnostic products with high clinical utility. With the focus on diagnostics, SkylineDx assists healthcare professionals in accurately determining the type or status of the disease or to predict a patient’s response to a specific treatment. Based on the test results, healthcare professionals can tailor the treatment to the individual patient. To learn more, please visit www.skylinedx.com.