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Jorgensen Brooks Group Counselor Trades/Construction RANCHO RESORT MAINTANANCE POSITION Administrative & Professional Tucson Urban League CEO/President Finance and Accounting Charles E. Gillman Company Accounting Specialist Mechanical Komatsu Equipment Co Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing Everready Glass Sales Reps BusinessVentana Medical, Genentech sign pactPlan to co-develop tissue-based genetic tests for new drugs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.25.2007
Oro Valley-based Ventana Medical Systems Inc. said Thursday it has entered into a long-term collaboration agreement with South San Francisco, Calif.-based biotech giant Genentech Inc.
The two firms plan to co-develop tissue-based genetic tests for new drugs under evaluation by Genentech.
Ventana said that under the nonexclusive agreement, it will receive service fees through the test-development process. When a candidate drug wins regulatory approval, Ventana will have rights to commercialize any associated diagnostic test, the company said.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ventana President and CEO Christopher Gleeson said the collaboration will initially focus on tests that can screen patients to determine whether they are likely to respond to specific cancer drugs, based on abnormal genes or proteins present in their tissue cells.
"The old days of the shotgun approach are sort of going by," Gleeson said.
The deal with Genentech has been in the works for at least a year, he added.
Genentech spokeswoman Kelli Wilder said the company chose to work with Ventana because of its expertise in tissue diagnostics.
Genentech, one of the nation's largest biotech companies with 2006 revenues of $9.3 billion, pioneered genetically targeted therapies with the breast-cancer drug Herceptin, Gleeson noted.
In 1998, Herceptin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in patients who showed the overexpression of a certain cellular protein as determined by genetic testing.
Ventana's shares closed Thursday at $50.51, down 49 cents.
● Contact Star Assistant Business Editor David Wichner at 573-4181 or dwichner@azstarnet.com.
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