NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Clinical Genomics and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation today announced a licensing agreement allowing Clinical Genomics to develop and commercialize its ColoVantage Plasma bowel cancer detection test.
The test uses multiplexed qPCR to detect and measures jointly discovered blood-based, tumor-specific methylated DNA biomarkers that may leak from lesions into the circulation. Trevor Lockett, leader of the colorectal cancer research team at CSIRO, said the biomarkers can be used for early detection, and "[w]e hope to dramatically increase survival rates for those cancer-carrying subjects who have chosen not to use the current bowel screening standard, the fecal occult blood test, and might otherwise have gone untested and undetected."
As the partners now seek to commercialize the ColoVantage Plasma test, the goal is to "integrate this blood test into protocols for bowel cancer screening around the world and thus to save many thousands of lives in the future," Clinical Genomics CEO Larry LaPointe said.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.