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"We are honored that the value of MammaPrint has been recognized at agovernmental level for its significant impact on the management of breastcancer," said Dr. Bernhard Sixt, president and chief executive officer ofAgendia. "This award provides us with the national support that will ensurethat even more breast cancer patients will benefit from personalizedtreatment."
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MammaPrint was among four healthcare innovations awarded by Dutch HealthMinister Ab Klink, chairman of the Healthcare Innovation Platform, at a recentNetherlands-based Healthcare summit. The Innovation Platform is thegovernment's initiative dedicated to advancing The Netherlands toward becomingone of the top five international countries in the areas of higher education,research and innovation by creating the conditions, establishing theconnections, and developing the vision required to stimulate innovation andentrepreneurship.
"Each year, more than 13,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in TheNetherlands, with another 317,000 diagnosed throughout Europe and nearly180,000 diagnosed in the United States," said Richard Bender, MD, FACP,Agendia's chief medical officer. "At Agendia, we are committed to making apositive impact on the health and quality of life of people suffering fromcancer, and new technologies like MammaPrint are changing the way oncologistsare treating this life-threatening disease in a way that directly benefitspatients' lives."
As part of the recognition and support surrounding the award, MinisterKlink noted that he would actively support the inclusion of MammaPrint in thepackage of treatments for which reimbursement is available so that the testcan provide benefit to as many breast cancer patients as possible in TheNetherlands.
About MammaPrint(R)
MammaPrint laboratory service is the first and only FDA cleared (February2007) DNA microarray-based 'in vitro diagnostic multivariate index assay'(IVDMIA). MammaPrint measures the activity of 70 genes, providing informationabout the likelihood of tumor recurrence. The MammaPrint test measures thelevel of expression of each of these genes in a sample of a woman'ssurgically-removed breast cancer tumor and then uses a specific formula oralgorithm to produce a score that determines whether the patient is deemed lowrisk or high risk for spread of the cancer to another site. The result mayhelp a doctor in planning treatment and appropriate follow-up for a patientwhen used with other clinical information and laboratory tests. All MammaPrinttests are conducted in Agendia's CLIA-certified central service laboratory.
About Agendia
Agendia, located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is a world leader in geneexpression analysis-based diagnostics with three products on the market. Thecompany focuses on the development and commercialization of diagnostic testsusing tumor gene expression profiling. Agendia was the first company tocommercialize a prognostic test - MammaPrint(R) - that predicts the risk ofbreast cancer recurrence. Agendia maintains close ties with several leadingacademic centers to develop state of the art diagnostic tests for cancer.Agendia also offers its expertise to pharma companies focusing on developmentof highly effective personalized drugs in the area of oncology. For moreinformation on Agendia, please vi
