NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Quest Diagnostics has licensed Clinical Genomics' biomarkers associated with colorectal cancer in order to develop them as a detection tool, Clinical Genomics said today.
Under the two-year agreement, Clinical Genomics will receive milestone payments to allow Quest Diagnostics to develop the gene-based portfolio to detect precancerous and cancerous colorectal tumors. Quest's rights under the pact are worldwide and exclusive.
Quest Diagnostics also made an equity investment in Clinical Genomics of an undisclosed sum.
Quest Diagnostics in 2006 acquired Enterix, a maker of the Food and Drug Administration-cleared InSure fecal immunochemical test for aiding the detection of colorectal cancer based on stool testing. Clinical Genomics is a spinoff of Enterix.
Clinical Genomics said it discovered the markers through a collaboration with Flinders University of South Australia and the Australian Government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, and that they "show promise as aids in detection of both colorectal cancer and precancerous adenomas."
Further financial terms of the agreement were not released.