NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Beckman Coulter has inked two deals with Johns Hopkins University for exclusive licenses to intellectual property tied to cancer genomics research, the company said today.
Terms of the agreements give Beckman Coulter the “exclusive option to license any of the genetic mutations discovered in these studies that have diagnostic potential,” Bruce Wallace, vice president of Beckman Coulter's Molecular Diagnostics Business Center, said in a statement.
The first agreement covers 200 genes that have been linked to breast and colon cancer that were discovered in a study at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
The other agreement is for sequencing services and options to license genomic IP related to six additional cancers.
Beckman Coulter’s molecular diagnostics assay group is already evaluating the breast and colon cancer genes. “The success of our strategic plan is dependent in part on our development of a robust molecular diagnostics business.”
He said the company is “already in the process of moving our research genomics technologies into platforms for diagnostic use. Building content, or approved tests for that platform, from research such as the John Hopkins cancer genomics studies, will enhance our success.”
Financial terms of the agreements were not released.