R&D Alliance for Cardiac Markers

A Scottish economic and business-development initiative, ITI Life Sciences (Dundee,UK) has agreed to provide Inverness Medical Innovations (Waltham, MA, USA) with U.S.$57 million over three years to partially fund research and development programs.

These programs will focus on identifying novel biomarkers and near-patient and home-use tests for cardiovascular and other diseases. Inverness will retain all rights to intellectual property arising out of the programs to the extent relevant to human healthcare, while ITI will acquire exclusive rights to the intellectual property for other uses.

Near-patient testing, the focus of Inverness, is being increasingly used by clinicians and patients for the diagnosis and management of chronic conditions and offers benefits to both healthcare providers and patients. Testing at home allows patients to monitor their disease and manage their condition more effectively. Inverness estimates the global market for near-patient testing to be about U.S.$3.3 billion.

The funding from ITI will allow Inverness to expand its cardiology-related research and development efforts. The company will establish a new research center in Stirling (Scotland) named Stirling Medical Innovations, where it will consolidate many of its existing programs and eventually commercialize products arising from successful research and development.

"We are delighted to be setting up this exciting new venture which highlights our long-term commitment to the field of cardiology,” said Ron Zwanziger, CEO of Inverness Medical Innovations. "Home-based testing in cardiology, in particular, offers exciting new opportunities to patients, and Inverness Medical Innovations intends to lead the world in developing this category.”





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