Oncimmune Holdings (AIM:ONC ) has inked a new contract with Swiss healthcare firm Roche to profile autoantibodies in patient samples collected during cancer immunotherapy trials.
The immunodiagnostics group said the contract will provide the opportunity to contribute to the understanding of individual patient responses to immunotherapy through immune profiling.
Adam M Hill, CEO of Oncimmune, said this is the largest contract the company has signed to date and builds upon the collaborative work between the two companies in recent months.
The group will use its SeroTag biomarker discovery platform to explore autoantibody profiles in patients that received cancer immunotherapy and said that it intends to start immediately.
Shares in Oncimmune Holdings were trading 7.25% higher at 103.5p on Thursday morning.
The contract involves a substantial upfront payment, while initial results are scheduled to be provided to Roche within three months and the project to be completed by November.
Hill said the contract “strikes to the heart of understanding as to why cancer patients have differing responses to the same immunotherapy.”
"Since acquiring Oncimmune Germany last year, we have grown the pipeline of potential commercial projects with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,” he said.
He added, “This contract, the largest we have signed to date, provides further evidence of our ability to convert pipeline opportunities into contracted revenues.”
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