Presage Biosciences Announces Strategic Research Alliance with Celgene Corporation

SEATTLE, March 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Presage Biosciences, a leader in discovering effective cancer drug combinations, today announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Celgene Corporation under which Presage and Celgene will take advantage of Presage's proprietary technology platform to identify novel drug combinations for solid tumor indications.

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The Presage platform is the only technology that allows for the direct comparison of multiple drugs or drug combinations in the same living tumor. In addition to identifying combination treatments for cancer, the company ultimately intends to utilize its platform to precisely evaluate patients' unique responses to microdoses of multiple cancer drugs.

Under the terms of the agreement, Presage will receive an upfront payment, an equity investment, and will be eligible for downstream payments.

"Drug development is currently challenged by heavy reliance on in vitro test systems and animal xenografts of little relevance to individual patients," said Thomas Daniel, M.D. Celgene President, Research and Early Development. "The Presage platform addresses this challenge, permitting rapid assessment of drug candidates and combinations in relevant models, with potential to base critical drug development decisions on in vivo response data."

"Celgene is an ideal strategic partner for Presage. The two companies are well aligned in focusing on original approaches to cancer drug discovery," said Nathan Caffo, President of Presage Biosciences. "The innovative structure of this research collaboration will enable us to continue our plan to expand the application of the Presage platform, which offers fundamental insights into novel cancer drug combinations and drug effects in living tumors."

About the Presage Platform
Presage Biosciences' patented drug array platform offers an unprecedented method for simultaneously analyzing multiple cancer drug candidates and drug combinations within a single living tumor. The Presage drug array platform enables the precise placement of multiple microdoses of candidate treatments through the skin and directly into a tumor.  Such a controlled localization enables drug-specific responses to be measured within an array of multiple drugs. These three dimensionally delivered microdoses also provide the ability to analyze drug effects across the span of a living tumor while capturing the heterogeneity of cancer cells.

About Celgene
Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, is an integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases through gene and protein regulation. For more information, please visit the company's Web site at www.celgene.com.

About Presage Biosciences
Presage Biosciences is driving discovery of effective drug combinations. The company is dedicated to improving cancer drug development so that patients can receive the most effective treatment possible.  Presage partners with oncology-focused pharmaceutical companies through strategic alliances to provide previously inaccessible in vivo data to validate novel targets, promote drug candidates to the right indications, and discover effective drug combinations.  Presage has developed the world's only known technology to perform simultaneous comparisons of multiple drugs within a living tumor. Presage is privately held and based in Seattle. For more information, visit www.presagebio.com.

SOURCE Presage Biosciences

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