NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Canadian diagnostics firm Med BioGene (MBI) has announced a settlement with Helomics, eliminating or revising several terms of a 2011 licensing agreement between the two firms.
In the original deal, MBI granted Helomics — then known as Precision Therapeutics — exclusive worldwide commercialization rights for its gene expression-based LungExpress Dx prognostic test, now known as GeneFX Lung. The two partners had squabbled over terms of the original agreement since signing it in 2011. In 2014, MBI threatened to sue Precision Therapeutics to enforce a milestone payment it believed it was owed.
Under the terms of the new settlement and an additional cross license, however, MBI will be able to seek new licensing partners for the original intellectual property as well as the enhancements made to the product by Helomics. The deal also removes a cap on royalty payments from Helomics to MBI and Helomics has agreed to forgive "any and all indebtedness and royalty setoffs which would otherwise impact Med BioGene's ability to offer an unencumbered product proposition to new licensees," MBI said in a statement. The forgiven debt is valued at $1.2 million.
MBI has also agreed to pay Helomics royalties for new components added to the advanced GeneFX Lung product. And Helomics has agreed to support MBI's efforts to secure new licensees between now and the end of April 2017, the firms said. These support services will be provided without any additional expense to MBI.