Iris Receives Award for Technology Innovation

Based on its recent analysis of the pharmacogenomics market, Frost & Sullivan presents Iris BioTechnologies with the 2008 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation.

The Award recognizes the firm’s efforts in the development of a patented, integrated technology platform, the Nano-Biochip gene expression diagnostic system, and an artificial intelligence bioinformatics platform, called BioWindows.

The Nano-BioChip and informatics system is designed to assist physicians in quickly prescribing what’s claimed as “the most effective, customized treatment protocol” for patients based on their genetic imprints and other aspects central to a disease’s incidence, such as lifestyle and environmental factors. For patients, this technology would be pivotal in yielding a personalized treatment regimen with a greater likelihood of success.

“Iris has the capability to employ its Nano-BioChip technology and BioWindows platform to cater to a wide spectrum of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, neurological disorders and other gene-related metabolic problems,” says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Vanitha S. V. “However, the firm’s primary focus is to develop an effective and reliable Nano-BioChip for the prognosis of breast cancer.”

Devised as BreastCancerChip, Iris’ Nano-BioChip gene expression diagnostic technology for breast cancer is designed to capture crucial molecular information concerning the activity of more than one hundred genes implicated in breast cancer, from a breast biopsy sample. The breast biopsy sample obtained can be processed to obtain tissue RNA, which can be compared to 100 predefined gene markers, associated with breast cancer. An optical pattern is created based on the number of target gene markers on the Nano-BioChip, to which the sample tissue RNA is bound.

The optical pattern thus obtained can be analyzed using the BioWindows bioinformatics platform. This proprietary artificial intelligence system is a centralized, expandable database, which gathers patients’ personal information, medical history, including their environmental, lifestyle and hereditary dispositions via a comprehensive online survey. The optical pattern is analyzed by comparing the pattern to historical clinical reference information contained within Iris’ database.

“While the Nano-BioChip captures the patient’s genomic profile, the BioWindows reference database and computer program serves as a complementary platform to analyze the specimen gene profile and deliver a rapid, secure, confidential and detailed diagnostic report to the patient’s designated physician, which assists them to identify a unique, optimal medical treatment solution for each patient,” adds Vanitha.