GRAND RAPIDS – Van Andel Research Institute announced that it has reached a licensing agreement for its XenoBase software system with Intervention Insights, a Grand Rapids-based company formed in 2009 with investments from more than a dozen local investors. The company was created to compete in the emerging personalized medicine industry by supporting community oncologists with personalized treatment options for aggressive cancer patients.
XenoBase is a unique, advanced bio-informatic system created by scientists at VARI to support all aspects of the life sciences from basic research to clinical application. The system holds great promise for researchers and clinicians who use the system to explore the molecular basis of disease. ?This development will provide oncologists with access to the latest molecular and computational technologies, and allow them to offer molecular-based medicine to their patients within their local communities,? said VARI Senior Scientific Investigator Craig Webb, Ph.D., one of XenoBase?s developers.
Over the past several years, XenoBase has been licensed to pharmaceutical, diagnostic and clinical research organizations on three continents, generating millions of dollars in supporting revenue for cancer and neurodegenerative disease research at VARI.
?Commercialization opportunities help to support Van Andel Institute?s funding model,? said VAI Vice President of Communications and External Affairs Joe Gavan. ?They currently augment the philanthropy and grants that sustain much of our groundbreaking biomedical research, and it is expected that one day they will become a sustainable source of revenue to complement our external funding.?
?The promise of XenoBase and the work performed by the Van Andel Research Institute make us proud to develop it in West Michigan. The idea was born here and it is great to see it grow here and help our community,? said Intervention Insights President Kevin McCurren. ?We hope to have expanded employment opportunities in the next several years as we grow our service offerings throughout the U.S.?
Personalized medicine is a medical model emphasizing the use of information about an individual patient to optimize that patient’s care. It is often defined as “the right treatment for the right person at the right time.” Thanks to breakthroughs such as XenoBase, clinical oncologists can now develop optimal, personalized therapeutic plans for individuals with cancer and other diseases that take into account the patient?s unique genetic and metabolic traits.
In one local study carried out in 2007, physicians used XenoBase to match the molecular profile of late-stage cancer patients to the most effective therapy, based on molecular evidence.
The Compassionate Care Protocol, funded by Van Andel Institute in partnership with Spectrum Health, Helen DeVos Children?s Hospital and Cancer and Hematology Centers of West Michigan, was launched as proof of concept personalized medicine study to test whether the XenoBase system could be modified to support physicians with evidence associating a drug?s effectiveness with the molecular basis of an individual?s late stage cancer.
The study provided real-time information reports to oncologists for more than 30 adult and pediatric patients.
?We are very excited about the impact our company may have in further establishing West Michigan as a center of life science leadership,? said Intervention Insights Founder Jerry Callahan. ?This cutting-edge work holds the promise to impact the lives of countless cancer patients and their families across the country in communities like Grand Rapids.?
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