NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Prometheus Laboratories said today that it has struck a license and development agreement with Bayer Schering Pharma for oncology diagnostics that could net Prometheus as much as $160 million.
Under the non-exclusive agreement, which includes up-front and milestone payments, San Diego-based Prometheus will use its oncology diagnostic platform, which measures expression and activation of specific cancer pathways, to develop oncology tools that could be used to advance and personalize novel cancer therapeutics.
A functional pathway analysis using Prometheus' technology "could allow for a comprehensive analysis of the tumor, patient stratification, and efficacy predictability of individual targeted cancer therapeutics as well as most effective treatment combinations," Bayer Schering Pharma's Head of Global Drug Discovery, Andreas Busch, said in a statement. "Developing such a diagnostic tool constitutes a significant step towards personalized medicine in cancer treatment and we are convinced this will increasingly become the standard of clinical care in oncology."
Prometheus said that the deal could be worth up to $160 million if all drug candidates are successfully developed and obtain regulatory approval.