Roche extends scope and value of contract with Oncimmune

Immunodiagnostics company Oncimmune Holdings announced on Monday that Roche has exercised its option to increase the scope and value of the cornerstone contract, initially announced on 28 May.

The AIM-traded firm said since then, it had been executing the project to profile patient samples collected by Roche during their cancer immunotherapy trials.

Following continued discussions, it was agreed to “substantially increase” the number of patient samples to be profiled, and as a result, Oncimmune said the overall value of the contract had increased “substantially”.

The board said the expanded project would continue to explore the baseline and on-treatment autoantibody profiles as biomarkers in patients that received cancer immunotherapy, using its proprietary ‘SeroTag’ biomarker discovery platform.

It said the overall timeline for the project had not altered, with initial results to be provided to Roche within three months, and completion coming in November.

“Our ongoing relationship with Roche is providing us with the opportunity to further contribute to the understanding of individual patient responses to immunotherapy through immune profiling,” said chief executive officer Dr Adam Hill.

“Importantly, we are delighted to see the substantial value that Oncimmune can contribute to major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

“With the number of partners utilising our ‘ImmunoINSIGHTS’ service continuing to grow, I look forward to announcing future projects in the coming few months.”

At 0915 BST, shares in Oncimmune Holdings were up 6% at 126.14p.