GATC Biotech Signs a Sales and Marketing Agreement for Products and Services With Molecular Health

CONSTANCE, Germany, April 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

• GATC Biotech to play an essential role in the commercialisation of TreatmentMAP™  
• Significantly increased access to the first registered medical device for personalised cancer medicine in Europe
• GATC Biotech expands the market reach and opportunities of its Diagnostic Solutions division 

GATC Biotech, provider of innovative, high quality DNA and RNA sequencing solutions to the pharmaceutical and diagnostics markets, announced today that it has signed a commercial agreement with Molecular Health. Under this agreement, GATC Biotech will make TreatmentMAP available to patients worldwide. The initial plans of the commercial collaboration are to market and support Molecular Health's state-of-the-art system for tumour profiling.

Every cancer is unique, which is why cancer patients respond differently to cancer treatments. Scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs can provide oncologists with more in-depth information about individual tumour biology, helping to identify potentially beneficial therapeutic agents based on the molecular makeup of the individual tumour. TreatmentMAP can help a physician select the treatment best suited to an individual tumour profile. Based on the patient´s molecular and clinical data, the extensive biomedical data warehouse of Molecular Health and the TreatmentMAP analytical software provide physicians with detailed, actionable information. TreatmentMAP is the first registered medical device of its kind in Europe for personalized cancer medicine. In the United States, it is run as an end-to-end laboratory test that includes next-generation sequencing (NGS).

GATC Biotech has signed a commercial agreement with Molecular Health to market TreatmentMAP. Molecular Health has launched the product in the US and Germany and will now work with GATC Biotech to address the rapidly growing interest in the market. This agreement provides Molecular Health with a powerful commercial and scientific partner in this important market and GATC Biotech believe that this relationship will contribute substantially to business growth.

Lutz Voelker, Chief Executive of Molecular Health, commented:

"This is an important agreement for Molecular Health and I expect it to be a significant impulse in commercialisation of our TreatmentMAP. It is the next logical step in a close collaboration with GATC Biotech, providing a world-class commercial and product development partner in the European market and potentially beyond."

"TreatmentMAP is a powerful tool designed to support the decision making of oncologists, hence improving the potential prospect of treating cancer and improving the life of cancer patients. This sales and marketing agreement with GATC Biotech has significantly enhanced our prospects of exploiting TreatmentMAP's definitive market potential throughout."

Peter Pohl, CEO and co-founder of GATC Biotech, commented:

"The TreatmentMAP medical device and Molecular Health's expertise is a perfect complement to GATC Biotech's strategic position in providing solutions for the global diagnostic market. This agreement allows us to combine our long-standing know-how and products with this exciting new software tool to address very important needs in the field of oncology."

"We are very excited about the potential of this next step in our collaborative relationship and I look forward to keeping the market updated as this commercial partnership develops to provide cancer patients access to this personalised tumour profiling solution."

ABOUT GATC BIOTECH 

GATC Biotech, a family-owned business, is Europe's leading service provider of DNA and RNA sequencing. For over two decades, the company has offered sequencing and bioinformatics solutions from single samples up to large scale projects. During this time, GATC Biotech has sequenced more than six million samples, ten thousands of bacterial, plant and other whole genomes, as well as hundreds of whole human genomes. The company offers true multiplatform sequencing using all leading sequencing technologies in its own labs. Its headquarter in Constance, Germany houses its ISO 17025 certified Genome and Diagnostic Centre focusing on next and third generation sequencing. The European Custom Sequencing Centre located in Cologne, Germany focuses on Sanger sequencing. This advantageous location ensures fast and efficient logistics. All laboratories have highly integrated and fully automated processing pipelines, ensuring full compliance with latest state-of-the-art quality standards. Please visit http://www.gatc-biotech.com for more information.

ABOUT MOLECULAR HEALTH 

Molecular Health is a leading biomedical company that is transforming molecular data into actionable clinical information for more efficient and safe cancer treatment options for each individual cancer patient. Molecular Health's TreatmentMAP is the first registered medical device of its kind for the personalised cancer medicine in Europe. Molecular Health GmbH is audited and certified per DIN EN ISO 13485 for the design, development and production of software systems for the integrated analysis of clinical and genomic patient data to support treatment decisions and provision of related services.

TreatmentMAP generates an individual tumour analysis for each patient, and provides an interpretation of the clinical and genomic patient data in a clinical context supporting the physician in an individualised treatment decision.

Molecular Health is managed by a multidisciplinary team of oncologists, scientists, business people and IT experts with long-standing expertise in their fields. The company works in close partnership with some of the world's leading healthcare institutions and information technology companies.

The company is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, the centre of cancer research in Europe. Their U.S. headquarters, including a CLIA-certified NGS lab, is located in The Woodlands, Texas. Visit http://www.molecularhealth.com for more information and follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/molecularhealth.

Contact GATC Biotech

Dr Helge Schnerr
GATC Biotech AGh.schnerr@gatc-biotech.com 
Phone: +49(0)7531-81-60-4117

Contact Molecular Health

Rudi Schmidt
Phone: +49(0)6221-43851-2222
rudi.schmidt@molecularhealth.com