PLEASANTON, Calif.,
April 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Roche
(SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) today announced it has acquired CAPP
Medical, a genomics research company founded by Stanford University oncologists and industry
veterans, to advance the development of technology for cancer
screening and monitoring through the detection of circulating tumor
DNA (ctDNA) in blood. CAPP Medical's novel
technology1 is designed to isolate and quantify small
amounts of ctDNA through a simple blood draw, which has the
potential to be used for cancer therapy selection and monitoring
tumor response and resistance to therapy.
"Roche believes focused and high quality next generation
sequencing (NGS) assays using simple blood draws have the potential
to significantly advance the time of cancer diagnosis and change
routine cancer diagnostic monitoring and may be highly cost
effective compared to today's current standard of using PET and CT
imaging to monitor tumor progression," said Roland Diggelmann COO
Roche Diagnostics. "CAPP Medical's technology for detecting the
circulating cancer DNA from blood has the potential to further
strengthen Roche's diagnostic offerings for patients and will
provide valuable clinical trial support for Pharma oncology
pipelines."
"This acquisition highlights Roche's commitment to advancing
cancer testing," said Ashok
Krishnamurthi, CEO of CAPP Medical. "We strongly believe
Roche is the best suited company to advance this technology and
bring it to its full potential."
About CAPP Medical
CAPP Medical is a privately held
company located in Palo Alto, CA,
founded in October 2013. CAPP Medical
is developing disruptive liquid non-invasive cancer detection
technology using next generation DNA sequencing. Its technology
allows for sensitivity and specificity without the need for patient
specific optimizations. At the core of CAPP Medical's technology is
the assay design and the bioinformatics that allow for the
detection of multiple mutations with a single assay. This results
in rapid cancer detection technology that may provide actionable
results to clinicians, accelerate oncology drug development, is
complimentary to existing modalities and is cost effective and
scalable.
1 CAPP Medical technology is for Research Use Only.
Not for use in diagnostic procedures.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in
research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in
pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest
biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology,
immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and neuroscience.
Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and
tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes
management. Roche's personalised healthcare strategy aims at
providing medicines and diagnostics that enable tangible
improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of
patients. Founded in 1896, Roche has been making important
contributions to global health for more than a century. Twenty-four
medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health
Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them
life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and chemotherapy.
In 2014, the Roche Group employed 88,500 people worldwide,
invested 8.9 billion Swiss francs in
R&D and posted sales of 47.5 billion
Swiss francs. Genentech, in the
United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group.
Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical,
Japan. For more information,
please visit roche.com.
All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected
by law.
Roche Sequencing Media Relations
Jacquie Bucher
Head of Corporate Communications
Phone: +1 520.468.9145
Email: mailto:jacquie.bucher@ventana.roche.com
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SOURCE Roche