Exagen Diagnostics Inc, a specialty diagnostics laboratory that discovers, develops, and markets proprietary tests, has been awarded $400,000 in funding under the IRS Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program, which was created by Congress as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Proceeds from the grants will be used to advance the development of biomarker studies underway, one of which is to determine patient responsiveness to anti-TNF therapy, a drug used to treat inflammatory diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and its sub-types, Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD).

Genomic tests are becoming an integral component of accurate disease prevention, risk evaluation, diagnosis, management, and treatment. Laboratories such as Exagen play a critical role in bringing novel molecular genomic tests to the medical community.

"This award recognizes Exagen’s unique discovery and development efforts in molecular diagnostics," said Scott Glenn, Exagen CEO. "Our anti-TNF discovery will lead to targeted treatment options for GI, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Psoriasis patients with chronic inflammation. Our research may also provide insight into targeted dosing levels, drug intervals, and drug options—all of which today are optimized through trial and error."

Exagen recently launched its initial suite of internally developed molecular diagnostic tests for IBD, UC, CD, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Until these tests were delivered to the market, no genetic testing was available for these disease states. The most widely used tests were serology-based with sensitivities of 51 to 74%. The Exagen molecular diagnostic tests achieve 84 to 92% sensitivity.

Source: Exagen Diagnostics Inc