NewsMed Biogene Announces Closing of Partnership With Precision Therapeutics to Commercialize LungExpress DX
Last Update: 4/18/2011 11:10:53 AM
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Apr 18, 2011 (Marketwire via COMTEX) -- Med BioGene Inc. (MBI) is pleased to announce the closing of its previously announced commercialization, license and research reimbursement agreement with Precision Therapeutics, Inc. The agreement provides to Precision exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize LungExpress Dx.
LungExpress Dx is a proprietary gene expression-based test to improve upon staging for identifying those patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who, following surgical removal of their tumor, are at higher and lower risks of mortality. In an initial study of patient specimens from the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group JBR.10 trial, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, patients classified by the test's 15 gene signature as higher risk benefited from adjuvant chemotherapy, and those classified as lower risk did not benefit and may have experienced a detrimental effect from adjuvant chemotherapy. LungExpress Dx is expected to provide better-informed and personalized treatment decisions to assist in the selection of patients for adjuvant chemotherapy.
"The commercialization of LungExpress Dx is consistent with Precision's ongoing commitment to improve the outcomes of cancer patients by providing personalized medicine solutions that aim to increase quality of life and cancer survival rates," said Sean McDonald, Precision's President and Chief Executive Officer. "LungExpress Dx will be a synergistic and important addition to ChemoFx(R), our flagship test. LungExpress Dx identifies early stage patients who have a poor prognosis and may benefit from chemotherapy and ChemoFx(R) quantifies an individual patient's probable tumor response to various chemotherapeutic and biologic agents."
"Given Precision's long-established leadership in the personalized medicine market generally, and lung cancer specifically, they are ideally positioned to advance LungExpress Dx," said Erinn Broshko, Chief Executive Officer of MBI. "We expect LungExpress Dx to be the first multi-gene prognostic test available commercially for non-small-cell lung cancer and to provide patients and doctors with an important tool to address a critical unmet need."
LungExpress Dx is being developed in collaboration with a team of internationally acclaimed researchers and physicians at Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network in Toronto. The team is led by Dr. Frances A. Shepherd, holder of the Scott Taylor Chair in Lung Cancer Research and the Past-Chair of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group Lung Cancer Site, and Dr. Ming-Sound Tsao, holder of the M. Qasim Choksi Chair in Lung Cancer Translational Research. Drs. Shepherd and Tsao are Professors at the University of Toronto and have in total authored more than 500 articles in peer reviewed journals.
About the Commercialization Partnership
Under terms of the agreement, Precision will pay to MBI within 120 days of closing license fees and research reimbursement of US$2.3 million, half of which is credited against future royalties that may be owed to MBI by Precision. In addition, MBI is eligible to receive up to US$1.0 million in payments based on achievement of certain milestones associated with the development and commercialization of LungExpress Dx, all of which are credited against future royalties that may be owed to MBI by Precision. MBI will receive royalty payments based on a market percentage rate of Precision's future revenues associated with the commercialization of LungExpress Dx or any other products incorporating MBI's technology. Precision is responsible for all future costs associated with the development and commercialization of LungExpress Dx.
About Precision Therapeutics
Precision Therapeutics, a life-science company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is committed to improving outcomes of cancer patients. As leaders in the science of individualizing cancer therapy through the use of a proprietary and unique platform, Precision develops novel markers to help guide treatment decisions based on the biological processes of each individual's cancer.
Precision's state of the art bioinformatics combined with the analysis of the functional molecular, genomic and proteomic activity of each patient's cancer offer an innovative foundation for further development and commercialization of novel predictive markers for cancer therapy. Precision's first commercial test, ChemoFx(R) is a proprietary drug response marker which measures an individual's malignant tumor response to a range of standard therapeutic alternatives under consideration by a physician. For more information, please visit www.precisiontherapeutics.com or www.chemofx.com .
About Med BioGene
MBI, a life-science company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is focused on the development and commercialization of genomic-based personalized clinical laboratory diagnostic tests. MBI is committed to advancing personalized medicine by commercializing tests that provide clinically relevant information to improve patient treatment and reduce health care costs. MBI's common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange. For more information, please visit www.medbiogene.com .
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LungExpress Dx is MBI's trademark. ChemoFx is Precision's registered trademark. Each trademark, trade name or service mark of any other entity appearing in this news release belongs to its holder.
SOURCE: Med BioGene Inc.