Perth, Australia— January 24, 2012— Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, and Proteomics International of Perth, Australia today announced a collaboration to validate biomarkers related to diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease). Diabetic nephropathy is a significant complication of diabetes; of the 280 million people affected by diabetes worldwide, 10-20% are expected to die of kidney failure.
Under the collaboration, Proteomics International will assess its thirteen newly identified putative protein biomarkers by using Merck Millipore’s multiplex immunoassays. The biomarkers include proteins involved in metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Once validated, the biomarkers could be used to monitor the progression and prognosis of kidney disease in patients with diabetes.
Currently, diabetic nephropathy is screened using the microalbumin test, a single biomarker in the urine that has limited utility, however, in predicting and monitoring disease progression. Several of the newly identified biomarkers show promise in enhancing the current screening methods by identifying a signature of biomarkers in the blood that can better represent disease prediction and progression. Proteomics International will also utilize its extensive sample repository of relevant clinical specimens to assess additional biomarkers developed by Merck Millipore.
“We expect this opportunity will enable Merck Millipore to expand our substantial portfolio of ELISA and MILLIPLEX® multiplexed-bead based assays for diabetes and metabolic disease biomarkers,” notes Jehangir Mistry, Ph.D., Director of R&D at Merck Millipore. “In addition to their biomarkers, Proteomics International brings access to large, highly stratified patient cohorts in Australia to validate assay performance. This will help us determine the clinical utility of the biomarkers for development of potential diagnostic tests for diabetic nephropathy.”
“We chose to partner with Merck Millipore because of their extensive portfolio of developed protein biomarkers and custom assay development expertise,” said Richard Lipscombe, Ph.D., Managing Director of Proteomics International. “We are very excited to be working with Merck Millipore to progress our initial discovery of these biomarkers that could improve diagnosis and health outcomes on such a large scale.”
For more information Merck Millipore’s multiplex assay kits, please visit www.millipore.com/BMIA.
Merck Millipore is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Germany and offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers’ success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, Merck Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science.
Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 67 countries and 2010 revenues of EUR 1.7 million. Merck Millipore operates as EMD Millipore in the U.S. and Canada.
Note: Merck KGaA or Merck shall mean Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
Proteomics International is both a drug discovery company and contract research service provider. The company combines the most advanced high throughput mass spectrometry instrumentation and a team of qualified protein and peptide scientists. Proteomics International is the only company globally to achieve laboratory accreditation to International Standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005 for provision of proteomics services. The accreditation is a widely used benchmark for US Federal testing facilities and strengthens the company’s licensing position to deliver drug development data that is of the highest scientific integrity. There are two focal research activities: new peptide drugs from venoms, and the discovery of biomarkers; both analyses build upon its proprietary transformative Bioven process.
