BioMosaics Obtains Rights to Liver Cancer Test

A novel diagnostic test for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been licensed to BioMosaics, Inc. (Burlington, VT, USA), which employs a unique monoclonal antibody to glypican 3 (GPC3), known to have increased expression in HCC and shown to be detectable in tissue specimens and serum.

The test was developed in the laboratory of Dr. Jorge Filmus, of Sunnybook and Women's College Health Sciences Center in Toronto (Canada), which licensed it to BioMosaics. The agreement covers exclusive worldwide rights to a diagnostic test system using a monoclonal antibody to glypican 3.

A study based on the work of Dr. Filmus and his team showed that the diagnostic test was positive in HCC patients and was, with only one exception, not positive in normal subjects or high-risk patients without liver cancer. The study suggests that the test could be more specific than the currently used blood test, which measures serum alpha-fetoprotein. Using current detection methods, HCC has a survival of less than one year. Surgical resection is successful only if performed early in disease.

"Early detection will be instrumental for the development of improved therapeutics for this devastating disease,” said Dr. Mark Allegretta, president and CSO of BioMosaics. "We are excited about the opportunity to advance this technology for the early diagnosis of HCC.”




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