Triangulating heart markers

Now that BG Medicine Inc. has secured access to samples from the Framingham Heart Study, the company plans to set about validating a panel of markers it identified using samples from the Copenhagen Heart Study, with the aim of developing a diagnostic to predict risk of heart attack. If successful, BG says the test could create a new market for therapeutics to prevent heart attacks.

The deal is the second in the past year and the third in total giving the company access to samples from large long-term heart studies for biomarker discovery. Last year, BG received non-exclusive access to samples from the Copenhagen Heart Study, a sister study in Europe that is modeled after Framingham, to discover and validate biomarkers predictive of cardiovascular events such as rupture of atherosclerotic plaque and myocardial infarction (MI)...