apceth and Indivumed to Develop Biomarker Platform for Targeted Cellular Therapies

Hamburg/Munich (ots) - apceth GmbH & Co. KG, located in Munich,
Germany, and Indivumed GmbH, based in Hamburg, Germany, have entered
into a partnership for the development of a predominantly
tissue-based biomarker strategy for the treatment of solid cancers
with cellular and / or gene therapeutics. The goal is to predict the
response of a targeted cellular / gene therapy in different cancer
types and to stratify patients to provide a more individualized
cancer treatment with apceth's innovative cell and cell-based gene
therapeutics. A reliable biomarker platform will enable oncologists
to identify those patients who will most likely benefit from the
treatment with apceth's therapeutics, thus establishing a unique and
truly personalized therapeutic approach adapted to the needs of each
cancer patient.

Since biomarkers for cell and gene therapeutics are not yet
available and cancer is still a growing medical problem worldwide,
significant demand for an adequate and reliable biomarker platform
exists.

Indivumed has specialized in obtaining high-quality biospecimens
and clinical data from surgical cancer patients and has established a
unique tumor biobank and clinical research infrastructure. A special
analytical platform for cancer tissue allows Indivumed to identify
and validate protein biomarkers and targets with extremely high
reliability in terms of their clinical application. One of
Indivumed's strengths is analyzing cancer pathway molecules for
predicting drug response. apceth wants to make use of Indivumed's
highly regarded tumor tissue bank and its expertise in tissue-based
biomarker discovery and validation. Both companies believe that the
combination of apceth's therapeutic approach and Indivumed's
biomarker platform has the potential to drive future cancer
therapeutics and pharmaceutical innovation, thereby making the
promises for personalized medicine a reality.

The current project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Munich Leading-Edge
Cluster (project number:01EX1021K)..

Both companies look forward to future collaborations for the
development of reliable biomarker sets to predict the response of
cell therapies in cancer .

About apceth:

apceth was founded in 2007 as a start-up company and is privately
owned by its founders and private investors. The work of apceth is
centered on the development and clinicial application of pionieering
stem cell and gene therapies, particularly for the treatment of
malignant diseases. apceth combines the principles of (stem) cell
biology with ground-breaking technologies, applying the highest
standards for GMP manufacturing, safety regulations and quality
control according to national and international regulations. apceth's
primary aim is to develop novel cell therapy products for the
treatment of clinical conditions for which no satisfactory options
are available to date, closing the translational gap between research
and clinical application. apceth is continuously expanding its
national and international network in order to drive forward- looking
innovation in the field of cell and gene therapy and promote its
clinical implementation, while also providing contract manufacturing
for cell-based therapies (www.apceth.com)

About Indivumed:

Indivumed, a German ISO-certified biotech company founded in 2002,
maintains the world's leading tumor database and highest-quality
biobank for the development of new cancer diagnostics and therapies,
and provides state-of-the-art services for biomarker discovery based
on viable primary human biospecimens. Indivumed's unique
infrastructure consisting of partnering cancer clinics, a network of
oncologists, its own highly trained study nurses who collect human
specimens right in the surgery rooms, combined with its modern
laboratories for tissue and cell culturing and molecular testing
enables the identification of molecular realities as they display in
the patient thereby minimizing misinterpretations due to post-
operatively occurring molecular changes. In addition, Indivumed's
sister company Inostics has specialized in DNA diagnostic testing
services and products for circulating DNA. Indivumed and Inostics
have their main offices in Hamburg, Germany, and run subsidiaries,
respectively, in Kensington, Maryland, USA and in Baltimore,
Maryland, USA. For more information, please visit www.indivumed.com
and www.inostics.com .

Contact:
Bianca Grebenstein
Tel: +49 (0) 413383-0
info@indivumed.com