Epistem signs deal with sanofi-aventis

EPISTEM, the Manchester-based biotech business, has signed an agreement with the US arm of French pharma giant sanofi-aventis.

Under the deal, sanofi-aventis has entered into a three-year collaboration with Epistem to use the Manchester-based company’s biomarker technology in its oncology programmes.

The biomarkers will be used to identify biological responses to drugs being trialled by sanofi-rventis to monitor biological responses to them.

The partnership could be worth up to $4m to Epistem over the three-year period.
Epistem CEO Matthew Walls said: “We are excited at the prospect of working across a range of oncology programmes and of applying our technology in collaboration with the team at sanofi-aventis.

“This collaboration represents an important milestone for the company as we continue to exploit our biomarker technologies which are well positioned to support and streamline the drug development process.”