NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Laboratoire Cerba, a member of the Cerba Healthcare group, and Pathoquest announced this week a licensing agreement for the iDTect Blood test for use in the precision diagnosis of infectious diseases.
IDTect is a metagenomic test developed by Pathoquest, a spinout of Institut Pasteur, that uses next-generation sequencing technology in combination with preanalytical methods and bioinformatics technologies. The test can identify more than 1,200 clinically relevant bacteria and viruses from a single blood sample and can deliver results for use by clinicians and microbiologists within 48 hours.
The agreement allows Laboratoire Cerba, a laboratory that specializes in medical biology testing, to run patient samples for the iDTect test on its genomics platform in Saint-Ouen L’Aumône. The licensing agreement exclusively covers the countries of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The deal also includes a non-exclusive license for use of the test in select countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and permits Pathoquest to introduce the test directly to microbiology laboratories within specific reference hospitals.
Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a statement, Jean François Brepson, CEO of Pathoquest, said, "Not only does [the agreement] confirm the clinical utility of our test for the clinical diagnosis of infectious diseases, it is also a significant step in our strategy to launch the iDtect Blood test since Cerba laboratories’ large network enables us to extend access to our innovative test to a larger number of patients who have a genuine need for [a] more reliable option for identifying pathogens responsible for their infections."