Xenomics Announces License Agreement with Sequenom for Prenatal Diagnostic Applications of Transrenal Nucleic Acid Technology
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Xenomics, Inc. has announced that it has licensed to Sequenom, Inc. exclusive rights to Xenomics patents for the development of prenatal research and diagnostic products based on the Company’s proprietary Transrenal DNA/RNA (Tr-DNA/RNA) technology.
The agreement provides for an upfront payment, equity participation and royalties on sales of licensed products, subject to certain minimum amounts. The license does not cover Xenomics current test for fetal gender determination based solely on detection of Y chromosome.
“We are pleased to have Sequenom, a leader in the development of non-invasive prenatal diagnostics, as our licensing partner for these applications of our platform technology” said Dr. Samuil Umansky, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Xenomics. “This license offers Sequenom the potential for a broader approach to prenatal diagnostics by using fetal nucleic acids found in easily-obtained maternal urine samples.”
Xenomics claims that its scientists were the first to report that fragments of DNA from normal cell death cross the kidney barrier and can be detected in urine. This agreement represents the Company’s first license for applications of its proprietary platform technology.
In addition to prenatal diagnostics, Xenomics has patent rights covering the fields of infectious diseases, tumor detection and transplantation. Due to simplicity of sample collection and Tr-DNA stability, the technology is optimally suitable for screening tests.
