NEW YORK(GenomeWeb) – DiaCarta and the University of Potsdam today announced a licensing agreement for the non-invasive early detection of colon cancer.
DiaCarta is licensing the intellectual property around the university's detection method and will develop and commercialize a test to detect colon cancer directly from stool samples. Under the terms of the agreement, DiaCarta will pay the university an upfront payment, as well as payments upon the achievement of milestones. In return, DiaCarta, a Hayward, Calif.-based molecular diagnostics company, will have the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the test globally.
The agreement will leverage DiaCarta's QClamp technology, a qPCR-platform for detecting somatic mutations in cancer genes that can also be used for mutant DNA enrichment for Sanger sequencing and next-generation sequencing, the partners said.
They added that they have already established clinical groundwork to develop the test, which may have use as a screening test for colorectal cancer and for precursor lesions.