NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Mbio Diagnostics today announced a product development and licensing agreement with Roka Bioscience.
The partnership will join MBio's multiplex, point-of-care diagnostics technology with Roka's solutions for food safety testing. The agreement covers "certain exclusive and non-exclusive fields," the firms said in a statement. Boulder, Colorado-based MBio and Warren, New Jersey-based Roka said they will jointly carry out product development.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"We have made enormous progress advancing our platform technology in recent years, and we are now executing on strategic partnerships that open new high-value opportunities," MBio CEO Chris Myatt said in a statement. "Recent high-profile cases of foodborne illness associated with fast food restaurants and supermarket ice cream clearly demonstrate the need for better food safety testing solutions. Our partnership with Roka positions MBio to help address this important public health need."
The portable MBio Array System uses the firm's proprietary LightDeck multiplex testing technology. The system can be deployed into a wide variety of testing situations, and at a number of points in the food supply chain, MBio said.
The Roka deal is the latest in MBio's push to find commercial partners following a $6.3 million Series B financing round in May. In October, MBio announced a triangular partnership with the Institute for Global Food Security and Scienion to create tools to monitor marine toxins.