NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Epigenomics said today that it has signed two separate licensing agreements with molecular diagnostics firms DxS and OncoMethylome Sciences.
Under its cross-licensing deal with DxS, Epigenomics received worldwide, non-exclusive rights to DxS’ Scorpions technology for use in R&D and research kits. It also received an option to expand the license to include in vitro diagnostic applications.
In return, Epigenomics granted DxS an option for a worldwide, non-exclusive license and further options to certain Epigenomics intellectual property covering the use of Scorpions technology for DNA methylation applications. The partners also hold options to sub-license rights for the respective technologies.
In the other agreement, OncoMethylome licensed non-exclusive worldwide rights to several of Epigenomics’ proprietary core technologies including its MethyLight portfolio for detection of DNA methylation for in vitro diagnostics. OncoMethylome also gained rights to HeavyMethyl technology, plus certain microarray-based technologies for DNA methylation analysis.
OncoMethylome will pay Epigenomics an up-front fee and royalties on any technologies incorporating Epigenomics’ technologies that are commercialized by either OncoMethylome or its partners who sublicense the technologies. Biomarker licenses are not part of the agreement, according to the partners.
Kurt Berlin, chief scientific officer of Epigenomics, said that the pacts are “an important step towards establishing a unified industry standard for DNA methylation detection.”
Financial terms were not disclosed for either agreement.