NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Pressure BioSciences and Target Discovery today announced they have expanded a technology license and supply agreement.
Under the expansion, Target Discovery will be able to use Pressure Bio's Pressure Cycling Technology platform for a planned entry into the clinical diagnostics testing space, they said, adding that the planned diagnostic services target critical unmet needs in treatment selection guidance for ovarian cancer.
The PCT platform had previously been available for research-use only.
The non-exclusive, worldwide deal includes a minimum royalty to be replaced by an annual royalty upon Target meeting minimum diagnostic testing sales figures. The agreement also includes a right of first negotiation and right of first refusal for an exclusive license to sell biomarker and/or assay diagnostic products in a specified field of use, Pressure Bio and Target Discovery said.
The license is for the life of Pressure Bio's PCT patents. In addition, Target Discovery will receive favorable pricing for PCT instruments and consumables.
The companies originally inked a deal in 2010 that linked the PCT platform with Target Discovery's reagents for the extraction of membrane protein biomarkers from human tissue, including protein isoforms that have been difficult to extract from tissue for diagnostic purposes.
"We believe that the PCT platform, in combination with [Target Discovery's] proprietary reagents, provides reliable access to this important class of protein biomarkers for life sciences R&D," Jeffrey Peterson, CEO of Target Discovery, said in a statement. "We further believe that variations measured in these protein isoforms are expected to translate into important commercial applications and desperately needed breakthroughs in improved patient care and health-economic outcomes."