Exagen Inc. (Nasdaq: XGN), a leading provider of autoimmune testing solutions, and Queen Mary University of London, announced today the execution of a research collaboration and exclusive license agreement. The collaboration will focus on development and optimization of patent-pending precision medicine approaches, based on RNA expression signatures, to personalize therapeutic agent selection for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Both parties will contribute to the development of the patent-pending assays, leading to the commercialization of novel molecular assays that segment patients according to gene expression in their synovial tissue biopsies.
RA is estimated to affect approximately two million patients in the United States and be twice as prevalent in women as in men and can be difficult to manage due to the variability in treatment response from patient to patient. Therapeutic agent selection for RA patients remains a significant unmet need. RA patients often try multiple therapies empirically before they find one that lowers their disease activity. The placement of an RA patient on an ineffective therapy risks progression and worsening of the disease, further damage to the joints, and significant wasted spend on expensive therapeutic agents. There are currently no reliable assays for predicting positive patient response prior to the selection of commonly prescribed biological therapeutic agents.
Building on Prof. Costantino Pitzalis and Dr. Myles Lewis
