|
TWST: Would you give us a brief introduction to your company and your
products?
Mr. Cassigneul: XDx is a molecular diagnostic company. We are
concentrating on inflammation or diseases of the immune system. Our
first product in the form of a service is on the market. We have a
reference lab and we receive the blood samples from medical centers
around the country. We perform AlloMap_ molecular expression testing
and we report back to the physician. This first product is designed to
monitor whether heart transplant recipients are rejecting their new
heart or not. Our customers are the heart transplant centers and, of
course, the transplant cardiologists. TWST: From a scientific point of view, how does your product work?
Mr. Cassigneul: The innovation that we provide is that first we work
with the blood sample. Previously, doctors had no other choice but to
use a very invasive endomyocardial biopsy; in the case of AlloMap
testing (which is Xdx's product), we take a blood sample and use the
white blood cells to extract the RNA from there. So we measure the gene
expression, using real-time PCR (which is a well known and well accepted
technology) to perform the tests. The tests are comprised of 20 genes.
Eleven are used to differentiate between rejection and the absence of
rejection, and nine genes are used for normalization and quality
control. At the end of the test, we generate a quantitative score from 0
to 40, and the lower the score, the greater the probability that the
patient is not rejecting the transplant. That enables the cardiologists
to follow their patients over time and see how they are doing.
Tickers included in this excerpt:
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The
Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does
not make stock recommendations.
|
|
