Abbott and BioCurex Announce Licensing Deal

Under the terms of a new licensing agreement, Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL, USA) obtains worldwide, semi-exclusive rights to commercialize products using the RECAF technology of BioCurex (Richmond, Canada). The agreement includes payment to BioCurex of up-front fees, product development milestones, and royalties on any product sales.

RECAF is the receptor for alpha-fetoprotein and is a potential biomarker that may be useful in the development of new cancer diagnostic tests. RECAF is found on malignant cells from a variety of cancer cell types but is absent in most normal and benign cells. Preliminary studies by BioCurex report a high level of clinical sensitivity and specificity for RECAF in many of the most common cancers, including prostate, breast, colorectal, lung, and others.

"Preliminary studies indicate that RECAF may provide good clinical sensitivity and specificity as a tumor marker,” noted William Brown, Ph.D., vice president, diagnostic assays and systems development, Abbott. "Abbott's goal is to further develop this technology, incorporating it into future tests on our Architect system for use in cancer diagnosis and monitoring.”

"In terms of cancer detection and treatment, our Recaf technology has the potential to improve patient care due to its ability to differentiate cancer cells from healthy cells,” added Ricardo Moro, M.D., CEO of BioCurex.



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