SomaLogic Announces License Agreement With OncoHost for the Development of Precision Cancer Diagnostics

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SomaLogic (NASDAQ: SLGC) has announced it has signed a licensing agreement with OncoHost. As part of the agreement, OncoHost will license SomaLogic’s SomaScan^® Platform to develop proteomics tests for its PROphet^® diagnostic system, designed to predict patient response to immunotherapy treatments and provide strategies to overcome treatment resistance. The collaboration reflects SomaLogic’s commitment to leveraging its assay capabilities in the development of high-plex proteomic diagnostic tests.

“Proteomics is a powerful tool in the fight against cancer, and this agreement demonstrates the immense value of SomaScan’s assay capabilities to aid in diagnostic testing,” said SomaLogic’s Executive Vice President of Healthcare and Diagnostics, Todd Johnson. “We are excited to bring SomaLogic’s significant experience in utilizing proteomics to develop clinical diagnostics to this new partnership with OncoHost, enabling personalized cancer therapy.”

As part of the agreement, OncoHost will establish a lab in North Carolina where it will use the SomaScan Assay kits to run protein measurements on patient samples. OncoHost will also use the SomaScan Platform to develop its own laboratory-developed tests that will allow clinicians to make treatment decisions earlier in a patient’s disease progression and inform choices for alternative therapies.

“It is a pleasure to collaborate with a strong industry partner to deliver on the most pressing issue in oncology today – resistance to cancer treatment,” said Dr. Ofer Sharon, CEO of OncoHost. "SomaLogic’s expertise in proteomics adds immense value to our cutting-edge AI-based host response platform, allowing us to identify patterns that are predictive of patient response. Enabling personalized cancer treatment planning is no longer just a dream.”

SomaLogic has significant expertise in using proteomics to develop clinical diagnostics having currently developed 20 SomaSignal™ tests for cardiovascular disease, metabolic health and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), with plans to expand to 30 tests in 2022. The SomaScan Platform is now being used in cancer research to study the changes in plasma protein levels in cancer patients.

SomaLogic’s SomaScan Platform can run 7,000 protein measurements on a single 55 microliter plasma or serum sample and the company expects that the platform will be able to measure 10,000 proteins in the next year. SomaLogic has run more than 450,000 samples to date.

The company recently announced that it will use its SomaScan Assay to analyze 210 million protein measurements from 30,000 samples spanning 15 years of clinical interactions to help researchers understand and predict cancer development for the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. The SomaScan Platform is the first large-scale, multi-disease proteomics study to be conducted in the EPIC cohort.