NEW YORK ─ Belgian molecular diagnostics firm Biocartis and Portugal-based biotech firm Ophiomics on Tuesday announced that they are collaborating to commercialize a prognostic, gene-expression liver cancer test called HepatoPredict to identify patients for curative-intent surgery and liver transplantation.
Ophiomics' HepatoPredict combines clinical parameters with molecular markers to assess tumor biology, aiming to predict which patients will benefit most from a liver transplant and identifying those for which a transplant should be avoided, the firms said.
The firms said they anticipate launching HepatoPredict as a CE-marked IVD manual kit in the first quarter of 2022, mainly directed to centralized expert laboratories. Depending on its uptake, they may begin developing a version of the test on Biocartis’ Idylla platform, a fully automated sample-to-result, real-time PCR system.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.