Accelerating rare-disease diagnostics and treatments through
innovation
NEW HAVEN, Conn. & STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) and Sema4 today announced a
strategic partnership to leverage their shared experience in data
science and systems biology to accelerate rare disease diagnosis and
therapeutic discovery. This new partnership will combine Alexion's rare
disease SmartPanel analytics with Sema4's proven success in
next-generation sequencing and genomic interpretation to further enable
novel diagnostic and therapeutic insights into rare diseases.
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"The world-class sequencing capabilities at Sema4 coupled with Alexion's
SmartPanel analytics will enable a comprehensive evaluation of a
patient's genome to uncover pathogenic mutations linked to rare
diseases," said John Reynders, PhD, Vice President of Data Sciences,
Genomics, and Bioinformatics at Alexion. "This collaboration will help
accelerate an accurate diagnosis for patients with rare genetic diseases
and reduce the multi-year process that many families face before
receiving a diagnosis."
Alexion and Sema4 will also collaborate in searching for and decoding
rare disease "genomic shields" - a buffering mechanism that enables
patients with a known disease-causing mutation in their genome to resist
the manifestation of the disease.
"The advanced data science and bioinformatics capabilities that Alexion
and Sema4 both bring to the table will enable us to decode these unique
patients who are resistant to their genetic propensity for disease,"
said Sema4 CEO, Eric Schadt, PhD. "By building systems biology models of
the rare disease biology in these patients, we can identify novel points
of therapeutic intervention for patients."
Under the partnership, Alexion will share, research, and further refine
the SmartPanel, which Sema4 will leverage to optimize the design of
next-generation sequencing solutions and accelerate the interpretation
of genomic and phenotypic data. Both parties will combine expertise in
data science and bioinformatics to decode the network biology of target
systems and research the decoding of genomic shields.
About Alexion
Alexion is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and
delivering life-transforming therapies for patients with devastating and
rare disorders. Alexion is the global leader in complement inhibition
and has developed and commercializes the first and only approved
complement inhibitor to treat patients with paroxysmal nocturnal
hemoglobinuria (PNH) and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), two
life-threatening ultra-rare disorders. In addition, Alexion's metabolic
franchise includes two highly innovative enzyme replacement therapies
for patients with life-threatening and ultra-rare disorders,
hypophosphatasia (HPP) and lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL-D).
Alexion is advancing its rare disease pipeline with highly innovative
product candidates in multiple therapeutic areas. This press release and
further information about Alexion can be found at: www.alexion.com.
[ALXN-G]
About Sema4
Sema4 is a health information company that is committed to providing
open access to data and creating practical tools that help patients,
clinicians, and researchers better diagnose, treat, and prevent
disease. Sema4 is constructing a more comprehensive picture of health by
combining a wealth of clinical experience that informs the answers that
patients and providers are seeking, the world-class academic research
that illuminates new directions, and the pioneering information science
that puts all the pieces together. Sema4 is a venture of the Mount Sinai
Health System, an integrated health system that is internationally
recognized for its excellence in research, patient care, and education.
For more information, please visit sema4genomics.com
and connect with Sema4 on Facebook,
Twitter
and YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements related to Alexion's diagnostic initiatives. Forward-looking
statements are subject to factors that may cause Alexion's results and
plans to differ from those expected, including for example, decisions of
regulatory authorities regarding the adequacy of our research, marketing
approval or material limitations on the marketing of our products,
delays, interruptions or failures in the manufacture and supply of our
products and our product candidates, failure to satisfactorily address
matters raised by the FDA and other regulatory agencies, the possibility
that results of clinical trials are not predictive of safety and
efficacy results of our products in broader patient populations, the
possibility that current rates of adoption of Soliris in PNH, aHUS or
other diseases are not sustained, the possibility that clinical trials
of our product candidates could be delayed, the adequacy of our
pharmacovigilance and drug safety reporting processes, the risk that
third party payors (including governmental agencies) will not reimburse
or continue to reimburse for the use of our products at acceptable rates
or at all, the outcome of challenges and opposition proceedings to our
intellectual property, assertion or potential assertion by third parties
that the manufacture, use or sale of our products infringes their
intellectual property, risks regarding government investigations,
including investigations of Alexion by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) and U.S. Department of Justice, the risk that
anticipated regulatory filings are delayed, the risk that estimates
regarding the number of patients with PNH, aHUS, HPP and LAL-D are
inaccurate, the risks of changing foreign exchange rates, and a variety
of other risks set forth from time to time in Alexion's filings with the
SEC, including but not limited to the risks discussed in Alexion's
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2017 and in
our other filings with the SEC. Alexion does not intend to update any of
these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances
after the date hereof, except when a duty arises under law.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170810005327/en/
Alexion:
Kim Diamond, 475-230-3775
Executive Director,
Corporate Communications
or
Sema4:
Rose Lewis,
646-385-4035
Director of Public Relations
media@sema4genomics.com
Source: Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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