First pharma agreement for EpiSwitch Orion
Summary by AI BETAClose X
5 November 2026
Oxford BioDynamics Plc
("OBD" or the "Company")
Oxford BioDynamics signs first commercial agreement with a major pharmaceutical company for use of EpiSwitch® Orion
Oxford, UK – 5 November 2026 – Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD), the 3D Genomics Company, announces that it has entered into its first commercial agreement with a major pharmaceutical company for the use of EpiSwitch® Orion, its cloud-based 3D genomics platform, as part of a biomarker discovery programme in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The agreement is with Johnson & Johnson and follows OBD's first commercial Orion agreement, with the University of Oxford-led OPTIMISE psoriatic arthritis programme, announced on 28 July 2026.
Highlights
● Agreement marks the first time a pharma customer has engaged EpiSwitch® Orion on a commercial basis
● Covers a genotype-based biomarker discovery programme to identify baseline biomarkers predictive of patient response to a biologic therapy in IBD
● OBD will process genotype data from a cohort of IBD patients using the EpiSwitch® Orion pipeline, with the aim of developing a predictive classifier of treatment response
Under the agreement, OBD will apply EpiSwitch® Orion to genotype data from patients with IBD, supporting Johnson & Johnson’s efforts to identify, ahead of treatment, which patients are more likely to respond to biologic therapy.
EpiSwitch® Orion is OBD's cloud-based 3D genomics discovery platform, which transforms standard genome sequencing or genotype data, including legacy datasets, into 3D regulatory intelligence. Powered by the world's largest curated 3D genomics knowledgebase, 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 marks an important commercial milestone for EpiSwitch® Orion – the first time a pharmaceutical company has paid to use the platform. Helping identify likely responders earlier addresses a genuine need in inflammatory bowel disease, and we're pleased to see this growing interest in Orion's commercial use. It reflects the strength of the platform we’ve built and gives us real confidence in Orion’s commercial trajectory. We expect this to be the first of several such agreements, and we'll update shareholders as the programme, and wider commercialisation of Orion, develops.”
Project details
The programme aims to identify baseline EpiSwitch® anchor features, regulatory control points in the 3D genome, that predict response to biologic therapy in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Several hundred genotyped patient samples will be processed and analysed in stages: an initial panel of markers will be identified and refined using a training cohort, before the resulting classifier model is tested against an independent, blinded validation cohort to assess its predictive performance.
OBD's scope of work includes data processing, anchor mapping, statistical analysis, machine learning model development and validation, together with dedicated project management and technical support throughout.
Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. OBD views the agreement as validation of Orion's commercial applicability with a pharmaceutical partner, and the Company will provide further updates on commercial progress in its scheduled financial reporting.
– ENDS –
For further information please contact:
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Oxford BioDynamics Plc Richard Compton, CEO Paul Stockdale, CFO
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+44 (0)1865 518910 |
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Singer Capital Markets – Nominated Adviser and Broker Alex Bond / Russell Cook / Anastassiya Eley
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+44 (0)20 7496 3000 |
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Merlin Partners LLP – Joint Broker Matthew Clarke
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+44 (0)20 3973 3678 |
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Camarco – Financial PR Marc Cohen / Sukaina Virji / Fergus Young / Tomisin Ibikunle |
+44 (0)20 3757 4980 OBDFinancial@camarco.co.uk
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Notes for Editors
About Oxford BioDynamics Plc
Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD), the 3D genomics company, is an international biotechnology company that unlocks actionable clinical and biological insight from genomic data that pharma, biotech and research partners already hold. Its lead platform, EpiSwitch® Orion, is a cloud-based, AI-powered 3D genomics discovery platform that transforms standard and legacy whole genome sequencing datasets into discovery insights in hours rather than months, revealing the 90-95% of disease-associated variants that sit in non-coding regions and are invisible to traditional NGS and GWAS approaches. The platform is built on the world's largest curated 3D genomics knowledgebase — over 1.5 billion data points and 15 million high-confidence genomic connections validated across 18,000+ patient samples in more than 40 diseases.
That same underlying science also powers OBD's two commercially available clinical blood tests, EpiSwitch PSE (Prostate Cancer Detection Test) and EpiSwitch CiRT (Checkpoint Inhibitor Response Test), and a pipeline of new tests in oncology, neurology, inflammation, hepatology and animal health.
Since inception, the Company has participated in more than 40 collaborations with pharmaceutical and academic partners, including Pfizer, EMD Serono, Genentech, Roche and Biogen. The Company's headquarters and UK laboratories are in Oxford, UK, with US operations in Maryland and a reference laboratory in Penang, Malaysia.
OBD is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM (LSE: OBD). For more information, please visit www.oxfordbiodynamics.com, X (@OxBioDynamics) or LinkedIn.
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