This story originally ran on June 30.
Vermillion said this week that it has received a notice of allowance of a US patent for the use of biomarkers for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
The patent's claims cover biomarker combinations for the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer's disease and their measurement by methods including mass spectrometry and immunoassay, Vermillion said in a statement.
Company representatives were not available to comment on the biomarkers comprising the panel. In 2006, Vermillion submitted patent applications claiming that the measurement of saposin D, FAM3C, and the neurosecretory protein VGF peptide by SELDI mass spectrometry could be used to qualify Alzheimer's disease status in patients.
The company, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, received a European patent this month for its use of biomarkers to detect ovarian cancer, marking a significant step in its efforts to commercialize its OVA1 ovarian cancer protein biomarker test. Vermillion received FDA approval for the OVA1 test in September 2009 and began selling the test in the US in March.
A notice of allowance is not a grant of patent rights but means that an application has survived the opposition period of the patent process and can now be registered.