NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Protagen said today that it has granted a semi-exclusive license to San Diego-based Inova Diagnostics for its systemic sclerosis biomarker BICD2.
The license allows Inova to include BICD2 in its portfolio of connective tissue disease reagents aimed at aiding in the diagnosis of systemic sclerosis. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
BICD2 is the first proprietary biomarker discovered by Protagen using its SeroTag platform, which simultaneously measures autoantibody levels for thousands of antigens to detect expression patterns linked to disease. The company's diagnostic development strategy has been to identify such signatures and use them to detect disease and track a patient's response to particular therapies.
In June, Protagen received the CE mark for its Multilisa BICD2 test, which uses the marker to help diagnose systemic sclerosis.
“We have always been intrigued by the SeroTag technology and have monitored its continuous progress over the last few years, Michael Mahler, vice president of research and development at Inova, said in a statement. "We believe that there are many areas within autoimmunity that would benefit from additional biomarkers to close the diagnostic gap. Anti-BICD2, the novel marker from Protagen, provides the means to help fill that gap in [systemic sclerosis]."