Proteome Systems downsizes Boston facility, banks milestone payment

Four months into an 18-month collaboration with the US-based High Q Foundation, Sydney's Proteome Systems (ASX:PXL) is to bank US$300,000 of a possible US$3 million in milestone payments, having successfully zeroed in on a small number of candidate biomarkers for the inherited neurodegenerative disorder Huntington's disease.

The company has also downsized to a smaller facility, "across the road" from its current space in Boston, Massachusetts, said CEO Keith Williams. The new 745 square metres of space will be used for research laboratories, a demonstration facility for the company's products, and manufacturing space. Williams said the company would continue to conduct some consumable manufacturing in Boston. "We're engaged in a bit of outsourcing as well," he said.

The biomarkers were isolated from the blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of Huntington's patients. Eventually, the High Q Foundation hopes to develop an assay using biomarkers to monitor the progression of the disease and the effectiveness of treatments in clinical trials.

"A very positive finding for Proteome Systems has been the observation that although there are potentially many differences in proteins between patients and healthy individuals, a small number of these was found to be critical for accurate diagnosis of disease status" said Dr Jenny Harry, head of discovery and diagnostics at Proteome Systems.

"The real potential goes beyond Huntington's to other neurodegenerative disease," said Williams. He said High Q will own the Huntington's disease applications of the biomarkers, but Proteome Systems would own the rights to the biomarkers for assays for other neurodegenerative diseases.

"The molecules we are looking at are relevant beyond Huntington's," he said. "There is a common pathology in neurodegenerative diseases, and common biomarkers."