Cologne, Germany, July 9, 2013 / B3C newswire / -Blackfield announced today that it has entered a collaboration with AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company. Under the terms of the agreement, Blackfield will apply its genomics technologies and computational biology capabilities to validate preclinical models in support of one of AstraZeneca’s oncology drug development programs. The collaboration with AstraZeneca marks Blackfield’s fourth partnership with a major pharmaceutical company within one year of starting up. Earlier this year Blackfield entered service agreements with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a division of Johnson & Johnson), Merck KGaA and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Professor Roman Thomas, Blackfield’s Scientific Director said: “We are pleased to help AstraZeneca make more informed decisions in the clinical stage of their compound development. By applying our unique background in genomics, cancer medicine, and computational biology, Blackfield mines genomic information to support our clients in developing targeted cancer therapies. We are delighted that Blackfield’s position as a preferred scientific partner for global pharma companies has been confirmed this quickly. It demonstrates that our science-driven partnering approach that leverages genome analysis and oncology experience to offer expertise from one source is of highest value to the pharmaceutical industry.”

About Blackfield Blackfield is a Germany-based company that was founded by renowned cancer researchers Axel Ullrich and Roman Thomas. Professor Thomas heads the Department of Translational Genomics at the University of Cologne. His lab strives to identify, characterize and validate novel targets for therapy in cancer and to develop novel technology for cancer genome diagnostics. Blackfield offers a broad spectrum of genomics and sequencing-based technologies; the main product is a customizable multigene assay to test tumor samples for genome alterations (mutations, insertions/deletions, amplifications, rearrangements) in more than 300 cancer-relevant genes, thus supporting patient stratification and response prediction. With all its services, Blackfield offers outstanding computational biology expertise and technology to support the analysis and interpretation of genomics datasets. Blackfield’s business model is highly flexible and centered on customized collaborations to find optimized solutions that transfer the latest scientific findings and target specific know-how from the lab to the clinic.

Contact:

Dr. Jutta Fritz Blackfield AG Email: info@blackfield.de Phone: +49 221 / 88 82 38-15

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