Licensing agreement for biomarker technologies developed by Arizona State University researchers
Provista Diagnostics strikes deal for technologies developed for the early detection of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and human papillomavirus.
Molecular diagnostics company, Provista Diagnostics, Inc. (AZ, USA), has recently licensed a series of biomarker technologies developed by researchers at the Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University (ASU; AZ, USA). Primarily developed in the ASU laboratories of Joshua LaBaer and Karen Anderson, Provista will mainly evaluate the technologies for use in the early detection of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and human papillomavirus.
The early detection of cancer is known to significantly improve treatment outcomes and survival rate; however, less than one-in-five cases of ovarian cancer are detected in the early stage, and no screening biomarkers are currently recommended for detection of the disease in the general population. In addition, breast cancer remains a common and devastating health problem, affecting approximately one-in-eight women in the USA over her lifetime.
David Reese, President and Chief Executive Officer of Provista commented, “Provista is working to develop oncology-related diagnostics in areas of significant unmet need. We are very familiar with the excellent research being done at ASU in this area, as both LaBaer and Anderson are members of our Scientific Advisory Board. We look forward to testing this technology together with our own proprietary assays to determine both clinical and market viability.”
“With the advent of molecularly targeted therapeutics, biomarkers that are associated with biological subtypes of cancer may be useful for predicting responses to therapeutic interventions,” explained LaBaer, director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics at ASU. “If we can significantly advance the early detection of these cancers, we can save thousands of lives each year.”
The licensing was agreed by Arizona Technology Enterprises, the technology transfer organization of ASU.
Source: Provista Diagnostics licenses biomarker technologies developed at Arizona State University.
