Biosearch Technologies said today that it has licensed from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention new H1N1 influenza probes and primers for more sensitive and specific H1N1 detection assays.
In April 2009, following the outbreak of novel 2009 H1N1 and concurrently circulating seasonal flu A and B viruses, the CDC designed and validated molecular diagnostic probes and primers, or signatures, used in real-time PCR detection assays.
Subsequent molecular and antigenic evolution associated with the geographical spread of novel 2009 H1N1 prompted CDC to design and validate the new pandemic or "pdm" molecular signatures, Biosearch said.
Novato, Calif.-based Biosearch was the first company to license flu signatures from CDC, which conferred rights to Biosearch to manufacture and sell dual-labeled probes and primers bearing the novel sub-typing signatures.
"As licensors of CDC influenza signatures and as the inventors of Black Hole Quencher technology, Biosearch will provide access to 5'-nuclease BHQ probes that meet CDC design and manufacturing specifications for pdm novel 2009 H1N1 testing labs around the world," Marc Beal, Biosearch's director of corporate development, said in a statement.
Financial terms of the licensing agreement were not disclosed.