DETROIT – Asterand plc, a leading provider of human tissue and human tissue-based services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in drug discovery research, has been awarded a five-year, $24.3 million contract with the National Cancer Institute to supply clinically annotated human biospecimens for The Cancer Genome Atlas project, which attempts to understand the molecular basis of cancer through genome analysis.
The base award is valued at $5.4 million over 17 months; with provisions for renewal at the NCI’s option. The contract is partly funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The Cancer Genome Atlas is a joint effort of the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute.
“The TCGA will revolutionize the molecular understanding of cancer,” said Asterand’s Chief Executive Officer Martyn Coombs. “This project emphasizes the significant impact of well characterized and high quality human specimens on modern biomedical research. We feel privileged to play a role in enabling the NCI to advance this critical research and accelerate the development of new treatments and diagnostic tools for this disease. Furthermore, the contract plays an important part in our strategy to expand our work with government institutions.”
Asterand manages a network of more than 100 active collaborative donor institutions and maintains a repository of several hundred thousand specimens for immediate shipment. In addition, human tissues and clinical data can be custom collected to meet special requirements; including the collection of follow-up data related to patient outcome. Asterand’s renowned quality assurance procedures provide stringent controls on specimen collection; characterization and on the corresponding clinical data. These procedures allow researchers to choose samples that will best meet their scientific requirements.
For more information, click on CancerGenome.NIH.Gov
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