Alliance to Develop Diagnostic Tests

An alliance to develop and commercialize novel proteomic diagnostic tests based on proprietary technology has been announced by Ciphergen Biosystems, Inc. (Fremont, CA, USA) and Quest Diagnostics Inc. (Lyndhurst, NJ, USA).

The tests will be based on the surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization (SELDI) ProteinChip technology of Ciphergen. The partnership will focus on selected assays chosen from Ciphergen's pipeline over the next three years. Quest has purchased 6.2 million shares of Ciphergen's common stock for U.S.$15 million, about 17% of the company's outstanding shares, and has a five-year warrant to purchase an additional 2.2 million shares for $3.50 per share. Quest has also agreed to loan Ciphergen up to $10 million to fund certain development activities. This loan would be forgiven, based on the achievement of certain milestones.

"We are very excited about our strategic alliance with Quest Diagnostics to develop novel proteomic tests based on our proprietary biomarkers and ProteinChip system,” said William E. Rich, Ph.D., CEO of Ciphergen Biosystems. "Together, we have the opportunity to translate biomarker discovery into clinical diagnostic tests that will address unmet medical needs and improve patient care.”

Ciphergen's ProteinChip systems enable protein discovery, characterization, identification, and assay development to provide researchers with predictive, multi-marker assay capabilities and a better understanding of biologic function at the protein level.




Related Links:
Ciphergen
Quest Diagnostics