A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Applied Biosystems Group (Foster City, California), an Applera (Norwalk, Connecticut) business, reported that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Hitachi High-Technologies, an affiliate of Hitachi Ltd. (Tokyo) to develop and commercialize capillary electrophoresis (CE)-based DNA analysis technologies.

This agreement extends the term of and also amends an existing collaboration agreement that began in 1997. Applied Biosystems and Hitachi High-Technologies will continue to be exclusive collaborators in the development and commercialization of CE-based instruments for research, applied market and diagnostic applications. The current product line includes the Applied Biosystems 3130 and 3730 series DNA analyzers. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In other agreements:

• Charles River Laboratories International (Wilmington, Massachusetts), a provider of systems used for drug discovery and development, and Luminex (Austin, Texas) reported that they have entered into a licensing agreement whereby Charles River will use Luminex's xMAP technology within Charles River's Research Models and Services business segment.

The Luminex xMAP technology is designed to enable multiple assays to be performed in a single well, or multiplexed, using suspended microspheres or beads. Up to 100 different simultaneous assays can be performed in a single microtiter well, both rapidly and precisely. Charles River's Research Animal Diagnostic Services division will use the technology to create the Multiplexed Fluorometric ImmunoAssay, which will be adopted as the platform for screening laboratory animal serum samples for infectious disease.

• Cangen Biotechnologies (Bethesda, Maryland) reported expansion of its ongoing research collaboration with Olympus (Tokyo), initiated in May 2005, to develop a hybrid DNA-based and protein-based test for early detection of lung cancer. The expanded collaboration includes funding for a prospective clinical study.

The goal of this collaboration is to establish a blood-based molecular lung cancer diagnostic via identification of specific DNA markers. Several key DNA markers with 70-80% accuracy have been identified from surgically resected samples obtained by Cangen from Hyundai Hospital in Korea during 2005. The identified markers can be used as a hybrid with protein-based markers to improve sensitivity and specificity. Cangen has begun patient recruitment for the study at clinical sites in Asia and will receive funding from Olympus in support of the study and ongoing research and clinical development efforts regarding lung cancer detection. Cangen will manage the study from its Asia Clinical Trial Center in Seoul, Korea.

Olympus and Cangen said they are targeting FDA approval after two years.