NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Cypress Bioscience has acquired Cellatope's technology platform for diagnosing and monitoring autoimmune disorders, such as lupus, for up to $5 million.
San Diego-based Cypress said that the technology platform uses cell-bound complement activation products for diagnosis and monitoring of response to treatment. It was developed by researchers at the Lupus center for Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh to evaluate cell-bound fragments of activated complement proteins and their utility in diagnosis and monitoring of lupus patients.
Cypress intends to complete development of the system and offer personalized medicine services to lupus patients. The firm already sells tests for therapeutic monitoring, diagnosis, and prognosis of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Cypress paid $2 million in cash to Cellatope for the CB-CAP technology and will make an additional $3 million potential milestone payment based on commercial development of the technology for lupus monitoring.
In connection with the acquisition, Cypress will assume a license from the University of Pittsburgh.