For Immedidate Release
January 18, 2007

BUFFALO, NY – Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Boston-based Venzyme Accelerator announced today the formation of PersonaDX, Inc. a new life sciences company, that will be based in Buffalo.  PersonaDX will commercialize a new clinical diagnostic test for cancer patients that is derived from basic research conducted in Roswell Park’s Department of Cancer Genetics by Lionel Coignet, PhD.

Formation of PersonaDX is the first in what is expected to be a series of new companies that will be formed in collaboration with scientists at Roswell Park. When Roswell Park’s governance was transitioned to a public benefit corporation in 1999, the Institute gained the ability to commercialize and locally manage its scientific discoveries under the control of its administration and Board of Directors.

According to Roswell Park’s President & CEO, David C. Hohn, MD, Dr. Coignet will serve as PersonaDX’s Chief Scientific Officer. John Garrett, PhD, of Venzyme will serve as Interim President to direct corporate administrative and business activities while a permanent, Buffalo-based team is being hired. Dr. Hohn said, “Formation of local companies emanating from our science has long been our goal at Roswell Park. We look forward to making other such announcements in the near future and above all to being a powerful catalyst for economic development and employment in Buffalo.”

The new diagnostic blood test from Coignet’s laboratory is based on the concept that the genetic makeup of the individual patient may determine whether a cancer will spread from its point of origin to sites in distant organs, a process called metastases.

A specific gene, called the SMRT gene, appears to naturally inhibit the spread of cancer. Clinical studies in patients with breast and prostate cancer at Roswell Park indicate that those with “fragility” of the SMRT gene are particularly prone to develop metastases. Coignet and his colleagues believe that it is gene breakage at the “fragile site” that leads to metastasis and a blood test determines whether a fragile site is present on a patient’s SMRT gene.  

“The implications for improving treatment for the individual patient are potentially enormous,” said Donald Trump, MD, Senior Vice President and Associate Director at Roswell Park. “The hope is that we may be able to prescribe the most intense treatment regimens only for patients with a positive test and avoid unnecessary drug treatment for those with a negative test – knowing that metastasis is unlikely and that surgery or radiation alone is likely to be curative.”  

Initial plans call for PersonaDX to employ 10 people and to expand later as demand grows from cancer patients and their physicians for PersonaDX’s laboratory testing services.

 “We believe this exciting innovation will unite the scientific expertise of Roswell Park with the business acumen of Venzyme Accelerator to translate Dr. Coignet’s discoveries in the laboratory and make this new diagnostic test available to the practicing oncologists,” said Dr. Garrett. “The company will create a laboratory with highly skilled personnel and sophisticated technology to establish a major new enterprise for the Buffalo-Niagara region.”

Richard Matner, PhD, MBA, Roswell Park’s Director of Technology and Commercial Development, who oversees the Institute’s efforts to commercialize its scientific discoveries, remarked, “This is truly an exciting first step for Roswell Park and the Buffalo life sciences community. Roswell and its Board of Directors are committed to establishing start-up biotech companies here in Buffalo for the economic betterment of our region.”

For more information about PersonaDX, visit www.personaDX.com.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s first cancer research, treatment and education center and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers. Roswell Park has affiliate sites and collaborative programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and in China, For more information, visit RPCI’s website at www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or e-mail askrpci@roswellpark.org.

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