NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Gene Express said today that it has signed three agreements with NeoGenomics Laboratories covering licensing, commercialization, and FDA validation of its gene expression and reverse transcription PCR technologies.
Under the terms of the agreements, NeoGenomics will license Gene Express’s Standardized Expression Measurement Center, or SEM Center, and Standardized Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, or StarRT-PCR, technology.
NeoGenomics also gains the rights to commercialize Gene Express’s diagnostic tests, to validate future Gene Express technology to fulfill FDA requirements, and to use the company’s StaRT-PCR technology for its own commercial activities.
NeoGenomics will also help Gene Express validate its own tests for lung cancer risk and BCR/ABL gene expression.
Gene Express said it plans to complete the clinical validation and submission for FDA approval for the lung cancer test in the fourth quarter of 2008, and it plans to start clinical trials for the BCR/ABL test in the first quarter of 2009.
NeoGenomics is a clinical reference lab focused on cancer genetics diagnostic testing, and it has operations in Fort Myers, Fla., and in Irvine, Calif.
Financial terms of the agreements were not released.