27th May, 2009 Proteome Sciences plc has entered into a license agreement with Axela Inc. for the development of assays to measure its proprietary brain damage biomarkers on Axela’s multiplex biomarker assay dotLab™ System. Proteome Sciences has established a strong portfolio of patent protected blood biomarkers of brain damage-related disorders working in collaboration with the Biomedical Proteomics Research Group (BPRG) at the University of Geneva. The range of diseases covered by Proteome’s patents include stroke, subarachnoid haemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, amyetrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Under the terms of the licence Axela will provide a dotLab system and consumable reagents at the BPRG and obtains an option to license developed assays for research and diagnostic uses

Financial terms of the license agreement were not disclosed.

Commenting on the licence Proteome Sciences’ CEO Christopher Pearce stated,

‘We are pleased to be working with Axela to develop multiplex biomarker assays for a range of our proprietary brain damage-related biomarkers. We have been impressed with the ability of the dotLab System to accurately measure multiple proteins in blood samples and recognise the important potential of the system for improving the treatment outcomes of these clinically challenging disorders where early and precise diagnosis is of critical importance.

The research licence with Axela represents further external validation of our biomarker discovery capabilities in the CNS therapeutic area. As a leading biomarker Contract Research Organisation we offer clients fast, flexible and cost effective solutions for biomarker discovery, validation and assay development using the unique TMT® workflows through our PS Biomarker Services division.’

‘We are excited to be working with Proteome Sciences and the University of Geneva to incorporate these markers into the panelPlus™ Biomarker Menu for clinical research and eventual diagnostic applications’ said Rocky Ganske, President and CEO, Axela Inc. ‘panelPlus Sensors provide the first real time, user configurable approach to multiplexing and greatly simplify validation of both clinical utility and analytical performance. Axela’s technology is particularly suited to brain injury testing where rapid and accurate quantitation of protein biomarker panels is vital’.