Biomarker group grows
The public-private biomedical partnership The Biomarkers Consortium has had a substantial rise in its contributing members since its formation in October 2006. The partnership between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and private stakeholders now boasts more than 30 companies, including 15 nonprofit organizations. The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) manages the consortium, with other members including the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago; AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, both in London; and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in White Plains, New York. The director of the consortium, Anthony Altar, says organizations want to be involved because “they realize the importance of discovery and developing biomarkers in partnership,” but want to do it “without individually bearing the high costs” of studies. The consortium works by soliciting biomarker project concepts; those accepted are developed into a formal project proposal with the FNIH undertaking fundraising to implement them. So far, the consortium has launched the flurordeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography lung and lymphoma projects, which are being conducted by the National Cancer Institute and the FNIH, and have raised $6.3 million from nine private sector funders. Altar hopes that the consortium will continue to generate high-quality project proposals, and in the next year goals include launching studies “based on these proposals and in a variety of therapeutic areas, and continuing to foster broad engagement by all sectors with high interest in this work.” NS
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