Roche and Affymetrix, Inc. announced an agreement in which Affymetrix grants Roche access to its patented GeneChip brand technologies to develop and commercialize diagnostic products in a broad range of human disease areas. With these technologies, Roche Diagnostics will develop and market tests for a wide range of diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases.
The agreement gives Roche non-exclusive rights to Affymetrix' array and instrument technologies for up to 18 years. It will enable Roche to create and market GeneChip laboratory tests for DNA analysis, genotyping, and re-sequencing applications, as well as for RNA expression analysis.
"Affymetrix' technology is highly complementary to our polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology", stated Heino von Prondzynski, Head of Roche Diagnostics and a member of Roche's Corporate Executive Committee. "We believe that creating targeted microarray profiles for cancer, and genotyping and re-sequencing profiles for other diseases will enable us to develop and commercialize novel standardized diagnostic solutions, taking this exciting technology out of the research lab and into the clinical setting. This will allow physicians to tailor therapy for individual patients.
“Roche and Affymetrix have become partners in creating genetic tests to aid clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of human disease," added Stephen P.A. Fodor, CEO of Affymetrix. "We believe the synergies between our GeneChip platform and Roche's PCR technology will establish new standards for genetic clinical testing. We are thrilled to be at the forefront of this new marketplace with Roche." Fodor noted that he expects these tests to become as common in patient care as the X-ray, the EKG, and other routine examinations.
Together with Affymetrix, Roche will undertake research projects to develop and validate specific tests, along with clinical trials for those tests. The two companies will also collaborate on high-throughput packaging and instrument technologies for genetic tests for bringing state-of-the-art array scanning to diagnostic laboratories. Microarrays enable researchers to qualitatively and quantitatively measure gene expression levels in a broad range of biologically relevant organisms. They are also used for DNA analysis applications including mapping, genotyping, and re-sequencing. DNA microarrays were the first high-throughput tool for studying gene function.
Under the terms of the agreement, Affymetrix will receive a one-time, upfront payment of 70 million US dollars. Affymetrix may also receive other compensation, including royalties on sales of diagnostic kits and milestones payments for technical and commercial achievements.