First commercial agreement for EpiSwitch® Orion
Oxford BioDynamics PLC
28 July 2026
28 July 2026
Oxford BioDynamics Plc
("OBD" or the "Company")
Oxford BioDynamics signs first commercial agreement for its EpiSwitch® Orion 3D genomics discovery platform
Oxford, UK - 28 July 2026 - Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD), the international biotechnology company advancing personalised healthcare through precision clinical diagnostic tests, announces that it has signed its first commercial agreement for the use of EpiSwitch® Orion, its cloud-based 3D genomics platform that translates 2D genomes into 3D interactions and mechanistic understanding for researchers, pharma and biotech partners, as part of a translational biomarker discovery programme in psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
Highlights
● OBD has entered into its first commercial agreement for the use of EpiSwitch Orion, marking the first time a third party has paid for access to the platform
● The agreement forms part of OPTIMISE, a UK Government (Department of Health and Social Care, via the National Institute for Health and Care Research) funded translational research programme in psoriatic arthritis
● OPTIMISE is a collaboration between the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (University of Oxford) ("NDORMS"), the University of Glasgow, King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, addressing an unmet need in the selection of biologic therapy for psoriatic arthritis patients
● OBD will be paid for both laboratory biomarker discovery work and for genomic sequence processing and insight generation using EpiSwitch Orion
The agreement forms part of OPTIMISE ("Optimising Psoriatic Arthritis Therapy with Immunological Methods to Increase Standard Evaluation"), a programme funded by the UK Department of Health and Social Care via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and delivered in collaboration between NDORMS, the University of Glasgow, King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. Under the agreement, OBD will be paid for both wet-lab biomarker discovery work and for the processing of patient genomic sequence data and generation of insights using EpiSwitch Orion - the first time a third party has paid for use of the recently launched platform.
EpiSwitch Orion is OBD's cloud-based 3D genomics discovery platform, which transforms standard genome sequencing data - including legacy whole genome datasets - into 3D regulatory intelligence. Powered by the world's largest curated 3D genomics knowledgebase, EpiSwitch Orion illuminates the 90-95% of disease-associated variants in non-coding regions that traditional sequencing and genome-wide association approaches cannot decipher, helping pharmaceutical and biotech partners move from statistical association to actionable target and biomarker discovery.
Richard Compton, Chief Executive Officer of OBD, said:
"This agreement represents an important milestone for OBD and for EpiSwitch Orion. Psoriatic arthritis patients currently face a trial-and-error process in finding the most effective biologic therapy, and helping clinicians identify the right treatment for the right patient sooner is exactly the kind of unmet medical need our platform was built to address. It is also significant for us commercially: this is the first time a partner has paid for access to Orion's capabilities. We are delighted to be supporting the OPTIMISE programme alongside three leading UK academic and clinical institutions. We estimate a significant untapped market with approximately 15,000 genomics Principal Investigators with samples, genomes and grant funding who would benefit from using our platform. This deal reflects the growing recognition of the platform's potential across the research community of the value to the research groups of an understanding of Biology in 3D that they have never had before."
Project details
OBD, in collaboration with the OPTIMISE team, is undertaking a translational biomarker discovery programme aimed at developing predictive tools for treatment response in psoriatic arthritis. The work draws on samples and clinical data from the OPTIMISE trial, which enrolled 240 PsA patients randomised to receive either anti-IL-17A therapy (secukinumab) or anti-TNF therapy (adalimumab). The programme aims to identify and validate blood-based genomic biomarkers capable of predicting which patients are most likely to respond to biologic therapy, supporting improved patient stratification and treatment selection ahead of therapy initiation.
The programme comprises two complementary strands. The first focuses on response to secukinumab, using OBD's EpiSwitch 1M whole-genome array and qPCR platform to identify discriminatory biomarkers, which will be translated into qPCR assays and validated in independent patient cohorts, with the aim of producing a compact classifier predicting response to anti-IL-17A therapy. The second strand extends the analysis to both secukinumab and adalimumab using EpiSwitch Orion and approximately 240 whole-genome sequenced patient samples, applying machine learning approaches to derive predictive models for both therapeutic classes.
OBD's scope of work includes sample processing, genomic and qPCR laboratory analysis, bioinformatics, machine learning model development, statistical analysis, validation studies and the generation of final predictive classifiers, alongside dedicated scientific, technical, project management, computational and analytical support throughout the programme.
Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. The Company will provide further updates on commercial progress in its scheduled financial reporting.
- ENDS -
For further information please contact:
Oxford BioDynamics Plc
Richard Compton, Chief Executive Officer
Paul Stockdale, Chief Financial Officer
+44 (0)1865 518910
Singer Capital Markets - Nominated Adviser and Broker
Alex Bond / Russell Cook / Anastassiya Eley
+44 (0)20 7496 3000
OAK Securities - Joint Broker
Matthew Clarke / Tim Dainton / Calvin Man
+44 (0)20 3973 3678
Camarco - Financial PR
Marc Cohen / Sukaina Virji / Tilly Butcher / Fergus Young
+44 (0)20 3757 4980 / OBDFinancial@camarco.co.uk
Notes for Editors
About Oxford BioDynamics Plc
Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD) is an international biotechnology company, advancing personalized healthcare through precision clinical diagnostic tests and EpiSwitch Orion, a cloud-based 3D genomics platform that transforms existing datasets into actionable insights for pharma and biotech partners.
Currently OBD has two commercially available products: the EpiSwitch PSE (EpiSwitch Prostate Cancer Detection Test) and EpiSwitch CiRT (Checkpoint Inhibitor Response Test) blood tests. PSE boosts the predictive accuracy of a PSA test from 55% to 94% when testing the presence or absence of prostate cancer. CiRT is a highly accurate (85%) predictive response test to immuno-oncology checkpoint inhibitor treatments.
The tests are based on OBD's proprietary 3D genomic biomarker platform, EpiSwitch, which enables screening, evaluation, validation and monitoring of biomarkers to diagnose patients or determine how individuals might respond to a disease or treatment.
EpiSwitch Orion is a cloud-based 3D genomics platform that enables pharmaceutical partners to transform standard sequencing data - including legacy whole genome datasets - into actionable discovery insights in hours rather than months. By revealing the genome's 3D architecture, EpiSwitch Orion illuminates the 90-95% of disease-associated variants in non-coding regions that traditional NGS and GWAS approaches cannot decipher, bridging the gap between statistical associations and druggable therapeutic targets. The platform is supported by the world's largest curated 3D genomics knowledgebase, featuring over 1.1 million anchor points and 15 million high-confidence genomic connections validated across 15,000+ patient samples in 50+ diseases - a foundation built over nearly two decades that enables partners to identify targets, build predictive classifier models, and design precision interventions at unprecedented speed.
OBD's clinical smart tests have the potential to be used across a broader range of indications, and new tests are being developed in the areas of oncology, neurology, inflammation, hepatology and animal health.
The Company's headquarters and UK laboratories are in Oxford, UK. Its US operations and clinical laboratory are in Maryland, USA, along with a reference laboratory in Penang, Malaysia.
OBD is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM (LSE: OBD). For more information, please visit the Company's website, www.oxfordbiodynamics.com, X (@OxBioDynamics) or LinkedIn.
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