NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – French molecular diagnostics company Ipsogen has licensed rights to use gene variants for diagnosing leukemia to ARUP Laboratories, a reference lab that is part of the University' of Utah's Department of Pathology.
Under the agreement, ARUP licensed non-exclusive rights to use the group of JAK2 gene variations to screen for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), a group of leukemias, in the US, Ipsogen said today.
Ipsogen inked a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement in 2006 for the genetic technology from the Institut Gustave Roussy, in Paris, where it was discovered. Ipsogen then developed and marketed a portfolio of tests to identify and quantify the mutation.
"This agreement supports our strategy to fully supply the US JAK2 market through a combination of strategic licensing arrangements and product sales to leading cancer institutions, hospitals, and commercial labs," Ipsogen President Susan Hertzberg said in a statement.
The company said that the World Health Organization has established that the presence of JAK2 V617F is one of the major criteria in the diagnostic algorithm for MPN, and that the test for the variation has created a more efficient, simpler, and shorter diagnostic test for a number of onco-hematologists.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.