A Diagnostics & Imaging Week
Genesis Bioventures (New York) reported that its wholly owned subsidiary, Biomedical Diagnostics (Ann Arbor, Michigan), has signed an agreement with Harlan Bioproducts for Science (Indianapolis). Harlan will assist Biomedical in the research and development of new monoclonal antibodies for use in Biomedical’s Mammastatin Serum Assay (MSA).
Harlan provides custom antibody production services to research institutions and to the biotech and pharma industries and is part of Harlan Industries (Cortland, New York), a supplier of research-related products and services. All Harlan antibody production is performed in cGMP FDA-registered or USDA-licensed facilities.
The MSA is a blood test that assesses women’s breast health. In correlation studies, women who have a high test result have been shown to have a lower risk of breast cancer than women who have a low test result. The MSA test is currently available to physicians through ARUP Laboratories (Salt Lake City) or directly through Biomedical’s laboratory services.
In other agreements:
• Delphi Medical Systems, a subsidiary of Delphi Corp. (both Troy, Michigan), has signed a worldwide licensing agreement with Korean medical device company Oxus, a supplier of medical, industrial and commercial PSA oxygen generators.
The agreement includes two U.S. patents, several additional patent applications, the rights to manufacture and distribute oxygen concentrators based on this intellectual property, and the ability to use the underlying technology for original equipment manufacturers and distributors.
Delphi said it anticipates bringing two oxygen concentrators to the U.S. and European markets in the first quarter of 2006.
• The Bayer HealthCare Diagnostics Division (Tarrytown, New York), a member of the Bayer Group (Leverkusen, Germany) and Inverness Medical Innovations (Waltham, Massachusetts), a manufacturer of diagnostic products, reported signing four agreements to broaden their assay menu offerings worldwide in the diagnostics arena.
The first agreement will expand access for physicians and healthcare providers worldwide, excluding Japan, to diagnose congestive heart failure using a point of care assay for B-type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) testing.
Recent research has shown that elevated levels of BNP are an indicator of heart failure, thus providing physicians with an important diagnostic tool in the early detection and management of heart failure.
BNP is a rapidly expanding area for cardiovascular testing. The BNP molecule is physiologically active and serves as a biological response to cardiovascular stress.