Nottingham, UK-headquartered Oncimmune has signed a collaboration with Roche’s Genentech division to profile samples from the latter’s rheumatology clinical trials.

As part of the collaboration agreement, Oncimmune will characterise the autoantibody profiles of patients in clinical trials for rheumatological diseases, including the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Under this new project, Oncimmune will use its proprietary NavigAID panel to characterise the autoantibody profiles from trial participants. The NavigAID arrays contain well-defined panels, encompassing markers of interest for each disease type being investigated.

After the completion of this project, Genentech is eligible to extend the contract to profile additional samples using Oncimmune’s technology.

A key focus of the project is to improve characterisation of SLE, which is a disease which has a high unmet need in terms of effective therapeutics.

SLE is chronic and incurable, and is associated with as range of symptoms that can flare up over time, making diagnosis of this condition particularly challenging.

The Genentech project builds upon Oncimmune’s aim of partnering with large pharma companies through the profiling of autoantibodies and developing commercial companion diagnostic tests through its immunoINSIGHTS service business.

“Genentech is a pre-eminent biotechnology company, considered a leader in the biotech industry today,” said Adam Hill, chief executive officer of Oncimmune.

This contract adds to the already substantial pipeline of contracted revenue through our ImmunoINSIGHTS business in FY2021 and provides another opportunity to show how our NavigAID technology can assist partners in increasing their ability to better assess where their medicines could make an impact,” he added.