NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Trovagene announced today that it has completed a reorganization effort that it believes will allow it to refocus its efforts on the global distribution of liquid biopsy kits and systems to clinical research laboratories.
The company — which also cut 20 jobs — estimated that the staff reductions, combined with a lowering of expenses associated with marketing CLIA lab testing directly to medical professionals, will reduce its annual pre-tax expenses by approximately $4 million.
Last month Trovagene made an agreement with Boreal Genomics to merge the two companies' respective technologies to co-develop assay kits for the detection and analysis of circulating tumor DNA in urine and blood. As part of the deal, Trovagene committed to pay $1 million in upfront and milestone payments in exchange for global distribution and sub-distribution rights for blood-based assays and exclusive distribution rights for urine-based assays for at least 10 years.
The company's initial research-use-only proprietary kits will include a urine collection kit, a urine ctDNA extraction kit, and multigene mutation enrichment kits, along with the Boreal OnTarget system, Trovagene said.
According to CEO Bill Welch, this move has allowed Trovagene to reduce costs associated with a business that was previously centered on offering testing services out of its CLIA lab. "Our transition to marketing kits directly to these clinical research laboratories lowers our commercial costs and mitigates any sales conflicts with our laboratory customers," Welch said in a statement. "Numerous clinical research laboratories have expressed significant interest in utilizing our ctDNA technology to offer their own in-house liquid biopsy tests to clinicians and their patients."
Trovagene said it will also continue to operate its CLIA lab for US and international customers in clinical research laboratories and for pharmaceutical drug development.