NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The US Patent and Trademark Office has re-issued a patent covering SELDI mass spec-related technology to Vermillion, formerly called Ciphergen, that entitles the diagnostics developer to a $2 million payment from Bio-Rad Laboratories, Vermillion said today.
Bio-Rad agreed to the payment when it bought Vermillion’s proteomics tools business a year ago for $20 million in cash and a $3 million investment.
After Ciphergen unloaded its proteomics tools business in order to focus on diagnostics, the company changed its name to Vermillion.
The mass spectrometry patent, US No. 6,734,022, is related to a method and apparatus used for analyte desorption and ionization, and is assigned to Baylor College of Medicine, Vermillion said when the USPTO declared it would give the company a re-examination certificate for the technology.
In separate news related to the firm, Vermillion revealed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing this morning that CFO Debra Young resigned on November 1 due to “personal reasons.”
Vermillion said it has tapped its current corporate controller, Qun (Taya) Zhou, to step into the CFO role on an interim basis.