ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 12 Exagen Diagnostics, Inc., a molecular diagnostics laboratory that discovers, develops and markets proprietary genomic tests, today announced the purchase of Cypress Bioscience, Inc.'s diagnostic business, located in San Diego, Calif.
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Under the terms of the agreement, Exagen will purchase the diagnostic business in its entirety, including all testing services, intellectual property rights and equipment. Exagen has offered employment to all Cypress laboratory employees.
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"The Cypress products and technology complement our genomic testing platform and the suite of diagnostic products being sold by Exagen today," said Scott Glenn, Exagen chairman and CEO. "Cypress has done a good job of developing and commercializing their diagnostic business to this point. We look forward to expanding our customer base from the current gastroenterology focus to include rheumatologists. Our next product out of our research group is in the area of therapeutic efficacy for the biologic agent anti-TNF. The initial test panel will provide the combined physician specialties with a diagnostic tool for identifying patients that will respond or not respond to this treatment."
Cypress Chairman and CEO, Jay Kranzler, M.D., PhD., said, "We have spent the last several months performing a search for the appropriate partner to acquire our diagnostic business and consider Exagen an ideal choice to market our current testing services as well as move our platform for the improved diagnosis and management of Lupus into commercial development, thereby maximizing the returns on those assets. We believe this transaction is in the best interest of Cypress shareholders."
About Exagen Diagnostics, Inc.
Exagen Diagnostics is the emerging leader in laboratory-discovered and developed genomic tests specifically designed to provide objective information to physicians and patients for more accurate, efficient diagnosis and better disease management. Using Coperna�, the company's proprietary, algorithm-driven computational tool and search engine that runs on high-performance computational clusters, it combines the ability to process massive amounts of data contained in genomic datasets with intelligent, rapid search methods. Coperna's targeted and precise discovery model has no conventional equivalent in the molecular diagnostics industry as it can identify relevant marker sets with superior sensitivity and specificity relative to markers identified via traditional analytical methods. For more information, please visit www.exagen.com.
About Cypress Bioscience
Cypress Bioscience is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of innovative drugs targeting large unmet medical needs for patients suffering from a variety of disorders of the central nervous system. Since 1999, Cypress has received FDA approvals for both of the products it brought to the FDA during that period, including for Prosorba(TM), a medical device for rheumatoid arthritis, and Savella� (milnacipran HCl), for fibromyalgia. The Company focuses on generating stockholder value by reaching clinical development milestones as quickly and efficiently as possible. Cypress' development stage assets include CYP-1020 for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, Staccato� nicotine for smoking cessation and intranasal carbetocin for autism. More information on Cypress and its products and development assets is available at http://www.cypressbio.com/.
SOURCE Exagen Diagnostics, Inc.
