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27 June 2008

NEXTGEN GROUP PLC

NextGen and Expression Pathology to provide biomarker services for tissue samples 

Ann Arbor, Michigan and Gaithersburg, Maryland - NextGen Group plc (AIM: NGG, 'the Group', 'NextGen' ), the provider of biomarker testing services, and Expression Pathology, Inc. (Gaithersburg, MD), a leader in tissue protein analysis, have signed a commercial agreement to provide protein biomarker services from tissue samples. 

The commonly used method for identification and quantitation of proteins in tissue samples involves immunohistochemistry, which is known to be technically challenging, time consuming, and expensive. The new service from NextGen and Expression Pathology will provide pharmaceutical and biotech laboratories with an improved alternative to this method, reducing drug development timelines and providing accurate and quantitative measurement of biomarkers of disease progression, drug response and toxicity.

In addition to providing accurate quantitative analysis, which is not possible with current methods, the new services are expected to save months in the drug development process. Immunohistochemistry methods often require several months just to produce an antibody against the protein of interest, whereas the new services from NextGen and Expression Pathology typically take less time to complete and do not require antibodies for protein quantitation.

NextGen is already recognizing revenues from the new service, and has several projects from major pharmaceutical customers in a number of disease areas including oncology.

To access the services, customers can send their tissue sample to either NextGen or Expression Pathology. The sample is then processed using Expression Pathology's Liquid Tissue® MS Protein Prep and Director™ laser micro-dissection technologies, and analyzed with NextGen's LC-MS/MS technologies to identify and validate differentially expressed and biologically important proteins. Customers receive a list of proteins seen in the tissue, as well as relative quantitation of protein levels from healthy versus diseased or treated versus untreated samples. See notes to editor for more technical details.

Dr. Mike Pisano, President of NextGen, said: 

'Our combined services will aid in the most challenging task of selecting the appropriate biomarkers for specific drug development programs. This agreement extends our biomarkerexpress™ service portfolio, and underlines our commitment to enable biopharma customers to select the best biomarkers for each Research and Development program, and for use in personalized medicine.' 

Casey Eitner, President and CEO of Expression Pathology, commented: 

'These services provide our customers with a significantly improved alternative to immunohistochemistry, providing accurate and quantitative measurement of protein expression levels in tissues, and reducing drug development time limes.'

ENDS

Enquiries:

NextGen Group
Mike Pisano, President	+1 734 973 7914
College Hill
Lorna Cuddon/Adrian Duffield	+44 20 7457 2020
nextgen@collegehill.com
Expression Pathology
Peter Tunon, Vice President,  Sales and Marketing	+1 (301) 977-3654
Seymour Pierce (Nomad for NextGen)
Jonathan Wright/Nicola Marrin	+44 20 7107 8000

Notes to Editors

Further details about the technology

Biomarkers

A biomarker is a substance (e.g. a protein) used as an indicator of a biologic state. A biomarker can be measured from a clinical sample, such as blood or urine, and evaluated as an indicator of normal biologic processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention.

The pharmaceutical industry's interest in biomarkers is increasing as they can be used not only for diagnosis but also for understanding the mechanism of the disease and development of therapeutics. Biomarkers have been shown to play a key role in drug discovery and development, particularly in therapeutic areas including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and disorders of the central nervous system. It is believed that biomarkers will lead the move towards personalized medicine.

Personalized medicine

Personalized medicine is the use of information and data from a patient's genotype, or level of gene expression to stratify disease, select a medication, provide a therapy, or initiate a preventative measure that is particularly suited to that patient at the time of administration. In addition to genetic information, other factors, including imaging, laboratory, and clinical information about the disease process or the patient play an equally important role. Personalized medicine makes it possible to give: 'the appropriate drug, at the appropriate dose, to the appropriate patient, at the appropriate time'. The benefits of this approach are in its accuracy, efficacy, safety and speed. Laboratories that support personalized molecular medicine develop patient-specific tests that monitor the effectiveness of treatment and can identify the recurrence of disease far earlier than was once possible.

Expression Pathology and NextGen

Expression Pathology's Liquid Tissue® MS Protein Prep and Director™ laser micro-dissection technologies will be used with NextGen's mass spectrometry-based protein identification and quantification services to enable proteomic studies in FFPE tissue. NextGen's LC-MS/MS services have been optimized to identify and validate differentially expressed and biologically important proteins from FFPE tissue that has been processed using Expression Pathology's proprietary technologies. 

NextGen Group PLC www.nextgensciences.com

NextGen Group PLC is a provider of biomarker services for pharmaceutical and biotech companies globally. Using advanced techniques, such as Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry analysis, the Company is developing a portfolio of robust assays for testing clinical samples for drug safety and efficacy, and the development of personalized treatment for patients. 

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, NextGen's range of services, which include biomarker testing, discovery and assay development, are employed by its customers as a key part of the biomarker-based drug and diagnostic development process. 

Expression Pathology Inc. www.expressionpathology.com

Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples are routinely collected and stored in medical treatment and research facilities. They constitute a huge untapped resource for discovery, validation and accurate measurement of biomarkers of disease progression and recurrence, drug response and toxicity. Expression Pathology's Liquid Tissue® reagents and Director™ laser micro-dissection slides are opening new ways to extract valuable protein information from FFPE tissue, and could provide the foundation for a new generation of clinical research and diagnostic tools.

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