BG Medicine Inc. is a life sciences company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel blood-based diagnostic tests. These tests are based on biomarkers for high-value market opportunities in the healthcare industry. The company today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with Boston Scientific Corporation, a leading medical device manufacturer.

The focus of the agreement is to study the role of BG Medicine’s lead product – the Galectin-3 assay for chronic heart failure – as an aid in patient screening for cardiac-resynchronization therapy (CRT) using patient data from the MADIT-CRT study. The MADIT-CRT study is the world’s largest randomized CRT-D study of New York Heart Association patients, with more than 1800 patients enrolled at 110 centers worldwide.

The collaboration is designed to focus on better understanding the important MADIT-CRT patient population and whether Galectin-3 can help identify patients who would derive the most benefit from CRT. Elevated galectin-3 levels are associated with an inherently progressive form of heart failure that is associated with an increased risk of hospitalization or death.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently cleared BG Medicine Galectin-3 assay as an aid in assessing the prognosis of patients with chronic heart failure. The collaboration also involves using BG Medicine’s biomarker discovery capabilities to identify other biomarkers that correlate to CRT treatment response.

For further information on BG Medicine, please visit the company’s website at www.bg-medicine.com

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