NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Analytik Jena said today it has acquired all the assets of SIRS-Lab, a developer of molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases, which declared insolvency in December and had been seeking an investor to commercialize its lead product, a test for sepsis.
The German firm was founded in 2000 as a spinout of the Friedrich Schiller University at the Jena Sepsis Competence Center and had developed a method for concentrating bacterial and fungal DNA in diagnostic samples.
The technology was incorporated into Vyoo, a PCR- and array-based sepsis test. A clinical trial of Vyoo was completed at the end of 2012. SIRS-Lab also was developing a gene expression test called Signature to elucidate the body's immune response to an infection, and a related test is "almost ready for the market," Analytik Jena said, adding it will continue the R&D work that was ongoing at SIRS-Lab.
SIRS-Lab has developed "considerable competence" in the analysis of sepsis and found initial success, Analytik Jena CEO Klaus Berka said in a statement. "The results from a first application study are highly promising. The aim is to identify life-threatening infections quickly and early. In particular, the region around Jena with the University Hospital and various research institutions offers excellent conditions to allow us to be able to serve this large market with products in the future."
As part of the deal, Analytik Jena will "take on the entire range of product expertise, including more than 50 patents and 10 employees" at the Jena, Germany site. As a result of the deal, it moves into the sepsis space for the first time.
Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.