NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – French biomarker firm TcLand Expression today said it has entered a licensing agreement with Inserm Transfert for two patents covering gene expression biomarkers that may be predictive of response to rheumatoid arthritis therapies.
TcLand, headquartered in Nantes, develops and validates gene expression biomarkers for transplantation and companion diagnostic tests for use with auto-immune therapies and intends to develop companion diagnostics for RA therapies with the two patents covered by today's announcement, it said in a statement.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Inserm Transfert is a private sector technology transfer subsidiary of Inserm, which is the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research. TcLand is a spinout of Inserm.
TcLand also said that it and its partners have received €450,000 ($564,000) from the French National Research Agency for the research program.
In addition to the patents, TcLand will collaborate with the joint Inserm/University of Rouen U905 "Physiopathology and Biotherapy of Inflammatory and Autoimmune Disease" research unit.
"This agreement is much more than a simple licensing deal because it means that our R&D division will collaborate closely with Inserm researchers on the design of companion diagnostics for treatment of RA," which affects about 70 million people worldwide, TcLand CEO Alain Huriez said.