PrimeraDx Announces Commencement of Product Development Collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company

MANSFIELD, Mass., June 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- PrimeraDx, a molecular diagnostics company, today announced that it has entered into a multi-year relationship with Eli Lilly and Company to develop diagnostic products in support of multiple clinical development programs for novel therapeutics.  Under the terms of this agreement, the two companies will collaborate to develop innovative multiplex assays on PrimeraDx's clinical platform, the ICEPlex® System.

Dr. Matt McManus, President and CEO of PrimeraDx said, "This relationship really moves our company forward in achieving our goals of bringing personalized medicine to the clinic and being the leader in the high-value companion diagnostics space. These programs are a tremendous validation of our technology and its utility in the development of complex tests to better diagnose and treat patients.  We are very excited about collaborating with Lilly on these important programs."

"We have great expectations of our collaboration with PrimeraDx," said Dr. Andrew Schade, Senior Director, Clinical Diagnostics Laboratory at Lilly.  "The unique ability of the ICEPlex System to combine multiple DNA and RNA biomarkers into a single multiplex assay could prove invaluable in our drive to develop companion diagnostics for crucial assets in our clinical pipeline.

"Our early focus will be in oncology, but as with all of our early research, we will apply learnings across therapeutic areas," added Schade.

About PrimeraDx

PrimeraDx is a molecular diagnostics company that has developed and is commercializing a novel, game-changing clinical platform which combines PCR with capillary electrophoresis. The result of combining these two well-known technologies into a bench-top instrument is the ability to deliver highly multiplexed, multi-modal and quantitative answers to the clinic. A key advantage of this next-generation quantitative PCR technology is the ability to rapidly configure very complex multi-modal assays that test for disparate target types, such as SNPs, expression biomarkers, microRNAs and fusion genes.

The Company is pursuing a two-pronged strategy to sell the system in an Open Platform Mode to clinical labs and to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies to develop high-value companion and enabling diagnostic products.

The Company is backed by a strong group of experienced venture-capital investors, including Abingworth, InterWest Partners, CHL Medical Partners, and Malaysian Technology Development Corporation.

The Company's website is: www.primeradx.com or www.multiplexpcr.com.  CONTACT: Andrew Bond, +1-508-618-2752, [email protected]

SOURCE PrimeraDx