Rehovot, ISRAEL, and Rockville, MARYLAND (Dec. 22, 2008) -- ImmunArray Ltd., (Rehovot, Israel) and 20/20 GeneSystems Inc. (Rockville, MD) announce that their two companies have been awarded a grant of $950,000 from the US-Israel Binational Industrial R&D Foundation (BIRD-F). The shared grant will be used to jointly develop a blood test for early diagnosis of lung cancer.

The companies have each been independently developing their own tests to diagnose lung cancer--the world’s leading cancer killer--using a similar technical approach, namely, a biochip to detect when the body’s immune system first recognizes the developing tumor. “The immune system has many functions, from wound healing, to tissue regeneration and waste disposal," explains Dr. Eli Sahar, ImmunArray's CEO. "In order to program these functions it must know what is happening to the body. Basically it's like a reporter, surveying the body at all times. If a change occurs, or a disease develops, the immune system senses these changes in real time and reacts appropriately creating antibodies that orchestrate repair mechanisms."

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in terms of annual incidence, with 1.25 million new cases diagnosed every year worldwide, and 175,000 in the US alone. It is also one of the most lethal, as it has a five-year survival rate of just 15%. Many more people could survive this illness if it were only diagnosed at an early stage, as the cancer usually develops unnoticed and is diagnosed only after symptoms have already appeared and the disease has progressed too far. If lung cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, surgical treatment increases the five-year survival rate to over 90%.

In some 85 percent of cases lung cancer is a result of smoking. In the US, there are 19 million current or past smokers over the age of 45, the age at which lung cancer incidence rises. These high-risk smokers form a well-defined target population for an early detection test.

With this in mind, ImmunArray and 20/20 are combining their biomarkers in hopes that the combination biochip will improve upon the strong accuracies each company is already achieving. “By combining the expertise and resources of two innovative young companies we believe we increase the chances of delivering the best possible test to the healthcare marketplace,” said 20/20 CEO Jonathan Cohen. The companies are striving for a product launch by the end of 2010.

About ImmunArray, Ltd.
Immunarray, (www.immunarray.com ) was founded in October 2005 within the framework of the RadBiomed Incubator in Tel Aviv. ImmunArray holds exclusive world-wide license to the iCHIP technology developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, for diagnosis and management of immune-related diseases.
Contact: Eli Sahar, CEO, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +972528335610
RAD Biomed: Simone Botti, Ph. D., Director of Business Development This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it tel +972-3-7684939 cell +972-544-617765

About 20/20 GeneSystems, Inc.
20/20Genesystems (www.2020gene.com) develops and commercializes innovative diagnostic products for early disease detection, therapy selection, and biodefense. The privately held company is headquartered in Rockville, MD.
Contact: Jonathan Cohen, CEO, 240-453-6339

About BIRD-F
The U.S. – Israel Binational R&D Fund (www.BIRDF.com) was established by the U.S. and Israeli governments in 1977 to fund joint R&D between technology companies based in the U.S. and Israel. To date, BIRD has invested over $245 million in 780 projects which have yielded direct and indirect revenues of about $8 billion.