Image Analysis Group (IAG) Joins €13 Million EU-Funded ExoCordOA Consortium as Imaging Partner

Image Analysis Group (IAG)

DYNAMIKA™

ExoCordOA is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe (Grant Agreement No. 101288259)

As imaging partner, IAG will support the patient stratification and structural evidence needed to assess EXO-101 as a disease-modifying osteoarthritis therapy

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, November 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ --
• Image Analysis Group (IAG) is the imaging Clinical Research Organization (iCRO) partner in ExoCordOA, a five-year, €13 million Horizon Europe project led by Exogenus Therapeutics
• The consortium will advance EXO-101, a secretome-based therapy, toward clinical validation as a potential disease-modifying treatment for osteoarthritis
• IAG’s imaging expertise will support the patient stratification approach and structural evidence needed to demonstrate disease modification

Image Analysis Group (IAG), a global specialist imaging Clinical Research Organization (iCRO), is proud to announce that it has joined ExoCordOA, the five-year, €13 million project funded by Horizon Europe and led by Exogenus Therapeutics, which launched on October 29, 2026. The consortium brings together ten organizations with complementary expertise across biotechnology, clinical and regulatory development, GMP manufacturing, medical imaging, academia and healthcare to advance extracellular vesicle-enriched secretome therapies toward clinical use, with an initial focus on osteoarthritis.

The central objective of the project is to advance Exogenus’ lead candidate, EXO-101, toward clinical validation as a potential disease-modifying treatment for osteoarthritis. The program will support EXO-101’s Phase I and II clinical development, while also addressing the scientific, manufacturing, quality-control and regulatory challenges that currently limit the clinical translation of extracellular vesicle and secretome therapies.

Imaging assessments are critical to demonstrating EXO-101’s potential as a disease-modifying treatment. Unlike therapies that relieve symptoms alone, a disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug must show that it slows or halts structural damage to the joint, and regulators expect that structural benefit to translate into meaningful improvements in pain and function. Building robust, quantitative imaging endpoints into the clinical study design from the outset is therefore essential to generating the evidence needed to support a disease-modification claim. As the consortium’s imaging partner, IAG brings expertise in imaging strategy, standardized image acquisition across clinical sites and quantitative assessment of joint structure, supported by its proprietary DYNAMIKA™ platform.

Olga Kubassova, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Image Analysis Group, said: “Osteoarthritis still has no approved disease-modifying drugs, and a key reason is how difficult it is to prove that a therapy changes the course of the disease rather than simply easing its symptoms. By building quantitative imaging into the clinical program from the outset, ExoCordOA can measure structural change objectively, generating the kind of evidence regulators need to assess a disease-modification claim. We are proud to bring IAG’s expertise, proprietary image processing methodologies, global reach and the best of our technology platform DYNAMIKA™ to this important European collaboration and look forward to working with our consortium partners.”

Joana Correia, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Exogenus Therapeutics, said: “We are particularly proud of the outstanding partners that make up the ExoCordOA consortium, each bringing specialist expertise that is essential to translating innovative science into new medicines. Collaborating with organizations such as IAG, whose advanced imaging capabilities will be critical to assessing EXO-101’s potential to modify disease progression, strengthens our clinical development strategy. Ultimately, science and clinical evidence will determine the outcomes. Our responsibility is to design the most rigorous studies possible, working with the best partners to give EXO-101 every opportunity to demonstrate its potential.”

Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting around 8% of the global population, with prevalence expected to rise as populations age. There are currently no approved disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs (DMOADs), leaving patients reliant on symptom management and, ultimately, joint replacement.

The ExoCordOA consortium is coordinated by Exogenus Therapeutics and comprises Lonza, Anthony Nolan, Eliquent Life Sciences, iLoF - Intelligent Lab on Fiber, Utrecht University, University Medical Center Utrecht, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Image Analysis Group and ReumaNederland.

About Image Analysis Group (IAG)
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in the UK, Image Analysis Group (IAG) is a global specialist Imaging Clinical Research Organization (iCRO). IAG partners with leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medtech companies to design, execute and deliver imaging-based clinical trial endpoints across oncology, inflammatory disease, musculoskeletal, cardiometabolic and rare disease indications. Our proprietary DYNAMIKA™ platform integrates AI-driven image analysis, centralized quality control, regulatory-compliant reporting and real-time trial oversight. With teams across the globe, IAG accelerates drug development timelines and strengthens the scientific integrity of imaging in regulatory submissions.

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About Exogenus Therapeutics
Exogenus is a developer of multifactorial, disease modifying biologics with wide potential application in regenerative medicine indications, including osteoarthritis. Exogenus is harnessing the regenerative signals found in extracellular vesicle-enriched secretomes to develop scalable GMP biologic medicines that restore healthier tissue function. The company has attracted private investment, secured non-dilutive funding supporting the clinical development of EXO-101 through Phase II, and collaborated with biotech and pharmaceutical industry leaders, including Lonza and Boehringer Ingelheim.

About ExoCordOA
ExoCordOA is a five-year, €13 million Horizon Europe project led by Exogenus Therapeutics. The consortium brings together ten organizations with complementary expertise across biotechnology, clinical and regulatory development, GMP manufacturing, medical imaging, academia and healthcare. Alongside advancing EXO-101 toward clinical validation in osteoarthritis, the project aims to address scientific, manufacturing, analytical, quality-control and regulatory challenges affecting the wider clinical translation of extracellular vesicle and secretome-based therapeutics. ExoCordOA is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe Grant Agreement No. 101288259.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Marie Fussell
Image Analysis Group (IAG)
+1 267-857-8638
press@ia-grp.com
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