Maverix Biomics Forms Strategic Co-Marketing Alliance with QIAGEN

PHOENIX, Nov. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Maverix Biomics Inc., today announced at the Association of Molecular Pathology (AMP) 2013 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona that the company has signed a non-exclusive strategic co-marketing agreement with QIAGEN to streamline the interpretation of raw next-generation sequencing (NGS) data into meaningful and actionable insights. The Maverix Analytic Platform will complement QIAGEN's sample-to-insight workflow by providing easy, three-step, push-button data analysis, which will be integrated with QIAGEN's Ingenuity® iReport™ biological data interpretation solution. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The combination of the Maverix Analytic Platform and QIAGEN's Ingenuity® iReport™ is the first integrated solution of its kind to quickly produce genome alignment, biological meaning of expression data and a better understanding of what may impact disease pathways, such as cancer.  Today at AMP, executives from QIAGEN, Maverix Biomics and Pathway Genomics are participating in a corporate workshop entitled "Simplifying RNA-based Next Generation Sequencing Workflows," which will address the adoption of NGS in fields such as clinical research and diagnostics as well as the workflow challenges in these settings.

"Ingenuity iReport provides the fastest way to understand the biological meaning of expression data while leveraging insights from the biomedical literature and other high-quality content in the QIAGEN Ingenuity Knowledge Base," said Ramon Felciano, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President at QIAGEN Redwood City.  "The combination of iReport and the Maverix Biomics platform provides our mutual customers a new and enhanced solution that enables them to quickly achieve actionable insights that will ultimately accelerate their advancement into a clinical or diagnostic environment."

"We are especially pleased at how readily the Maverix Analytic Platform integrates with the Ingenuity iReport solution to provide a more seamless instrument-to-insight experience," said Dr. Paul Pickering, Maverix Chief Operating Officer. "Our customers find QIAGEN's sample-to-result vision compelling, especially as next generation sequencing technology transitions from the research lab to the clinic."

Drs. Ervin Epstein and Grace Wang at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) are leading a program whose goal is to understand better the molecular changes underlying the development of basal cell carcinomas, the most common of all human cancers. More than 15 years ago, Dr. Epstein was part of a worldwide effort that identified hedgehog signaling dysregulation as being the pivotal event in the conversion of normal skin keratinocytes into these cancers. Today, his team at CHORI is assessing RNA expression in different murine models to try to investigate what additional hurdles these cells must overcome on their carcinogenic journey.

"The combination of the Maverix Analytic Platform and iReport have helped us move from raw RNASeq data to testable hypotheses in a rapid and seamless manner, a process crucial for us non-cognoscenti," said Dr. Epstein. "Hopefully further study of these leads will advance our goal of developing new preventive and therapeutic measures."

About the Maverix Analytic Platform
Maverix Analytic Platform is a cloud-based solution designed for use directly by life sciences researchers who may not have software or bioinformatics expertise. It leverages proven, open-source algorithms and applications developed at leading academic and research centers. After loading sequence data from any organism (human, animal, plant, or microbe), researchers are able to immediately perform analysis with reliable, scientifically recommended configurations, as cited in peer- reviewed journal publications. Visualization is provided through a variety of integrated graphical tools, including the UCSC Genome Browser, the world's most widely used genome browser.

About Maverix Biomics
Based in San Mateo CA and backed by leading venture capital firms and Silicon Valley investors, Maverix Biomics, Inc. provides researchers with a cloud-based platform to manage, analyze, and visualize genomic data, build Communities of Discovery, and place their data in context with the latest public data from the full spectrum of life, including human, plant, animal, or microbial organisms. For more information, visit www.maverixbio.com.

SOURCE Maverix Biomics