Quanterix Awarded $733,437 in Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) Grants

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanterix Corporation, a single molecule technology company focused on developing a next generation diagnostics platform, announced today that it was awarded a total of $733,437 in grants under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program. The QTDP program recognized Quanterix's Single Molecule Array (SiMoA™) platform as a promising advance that will improve diagnosis and treatment of disease while reducing healthcare costs. Programs to develop innovative clinical diagnostic tests in prostate cancer, Alzheimer's disease and Crohn's disease (an autoimmune disease) were chosen to receive the grants.

"Better utilization of diagnostics is an essential part of lowering healthcare costs. SiMoA is a disruptive platform that creates a new standard in sensitivity, precision, speed and cost savings for the diagnostics market," said David Okrongly, Ph.D., President and CEO of Quanterix. "We are pleased to have been awarded these grants to support development of the company's SiMoA platform and its application in these important diseases."

Quanterix's first applications create novel clinical value by delivering higher quality results compared with today's commercial tests targeting the same protein. For example, the company's AccuPSA™ test is over 1,000 times more sensitive than the most sensitive commercial PSA assays, and is designed to determine which prostate cancer patients will remain cancer-free after surgery, detect early signs of disease recurrence, and as a result create savings of about $700M over a five year period in treatment-related costs.

The sensitivity of SiMoA technology will also enable a new generation of diagnostic tests for measuring low abundance proteins and providing greater insight into disease detection, diagnosis and surveillance. The ability of SiMoA to create a diversity of new tests stems from the fact that current laboratory technology can detect only the 300 most abundant proteins in blood. However, it has been estimated that there are over 2,000 additional proteins secreted by cells into the circulation that are undetectable with current technology. SiMoA has the potential to tap this vast new source of diagnostic information.

The QTDP was enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.  The grant is intended as a tax benefit targeted to therapeutic discovery projects that show promise to treat areas of unmet medical need or prevent, detect or treat chronic or acute diseases and conditions, reduce the long-term growth of health care costs in the US, or significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within 30 years.

About Quanterix

Quanterix Corporation is a development stage diagnostics company utilizing its proprietary Single Molecule Array (SiMoA™) platform for the measurement of clinically important proteins in blood. SiMoA is 1,000 times more sensitive than today's immunoassay detection technology, with additional advantages in precision, speed and cost. SiMoA technology brings an unprecedented level of insight into disease detection, diagnosis and surveillance by enhancing clinical performance of existing tests and enabling development of new tests targeting low abundance proteins. Founded in 2007, the privately held Cambridge, Massachusetts based company is backed by leading life science investors including ARCH Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and Flagship Ventures.  For additional information, please visit www.quanterix.com.

SOURCE Quanterix Corporation