Lonza, one of the world’s leading suppliers to the Pharma&Biotech market, announced that it has made an investment in Exosomics, a Tuscany-based molecular diagnostics startup.
Exosomics, founded in 2011 and and incubated at Tuscany Life Science Incubator (TLS) since January 2012, is developing exosome-based cancer diagnostics and companion diagnostics, in particular by creating noninvasive assays for profiling tumors via liquid biopsies.
Anthony Chiesi CEO of Exosomics, said that bringing exosome technology into diagnostics and therapeutics required larger-scale procedures for isolating and characterizing exosomes, including cell-culture capabilities, areas where Lonza has expertise.
In a statement, Uwe Gottschalk, chief technology officer for the Basel-based company’s pharma and biotech segment, said Lonza sees opportunities for using exosomes-based assays in cancer diagnostics, and offered that the cell-derived vesicles “could become the next generation of cell-free therapies in regenerative medicine.”
“Lonza’s infrastructure and leadership role in biomanufacturing, combined with our exosome knowledge, will accelerate the availability of these breakthrough modalities,” Chiesi said in a statement.