“We have complementary skill sets to drive potential products based on glycan biomarkers from bench to bedside,” Asada says. “Hirosaki University has state-of-the-art facilities and trained leaders in clinical urology who can facilitate quick enrollment and collection of clinical samples for collaborative biomarker research. Also, Prof. Ohyama’s glycobiology expertise offers opportunity for collaborative interpretation of the glycan changes observed in cancer development and progression. Ezose Sciences brings to the collaboration its proprietary GlycanMap analysis platform. This technology facilitates, in a way generally not possible before, the high-throughput identification and quantitation of glycans in clinical samples. In addition, Ezose’s sophisticated bioinformatic tools for data readout and visualization allow the collaborators to more broadly review and interpret glycan data.”   

 

Urologic cancers, such as those of the bladder and prostate, are highly prevalent worldwide, and significant unmet needs remain for both the medical management and treatment of these diseases, Asada points out. 

 

“Prof. Ohyama and the team at Hirosaki are world leaders in researching these diseases, and one of the few groups focused on glycobiology as a new area of promising study,” he tells ddn. “Yet they, like others working in glycobiology, have been limited by the lack of suitable high-throughput analytic methods to more rapidly progress their work. Together, we believe that we can much more rapidly progress studies to advance our understanding of these diseases and improve medical management and treatment for patients.”  

 

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Ezose Sciences and Sigma-Tau advance projects in glycomics  

 

PINE BROOK, N.J.—In April, Ezose Sciences Inc. also announced an agreement to apply its glycomics capabilities to biologics research and development projects at Sigma-Tau Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite SPA, an Italian pharmaceutical group that specializes in immuno-oncology, biotechnology and rare, neglected and/or high social-impact diseases.  

 

The collaboration will build on R&D work conducted under prior agreements between Ezose and Sigma-Tau. Financial terms and other details were not disclosed.  

 

Marco Brughera, corporate R&D managing director of Sigma-Tau, said in a statement, “As a company committed to innovation, we rely not only on the contributions of Sigma-Tau’s in-house scientific talent, but also on the support of others who are pioneering their special fields. We welcome this opportunity to work with Ezose in bringing their unique glycomics capabilities to our research program.”