Ipsogen Expands Market Presence in the United States

Ipsogen (Marseille, France) has granted Arup laboratories (Salt Lake City, UT, USA) nonexclusive rights to offer a complete range of assays in the United States for the molecular classification and screening of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). The MPN are a group of leukemias caused by JAK2 gene variations that affect more than 100,000 people in the United States. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In January 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO; Geneva, Switzerland) established that the presence of JAK2 V617F is one of the major criteria in the diagnostic algorithm for MPN. Introduction of the JAK2 V617F test has lead to a more efficient, simpler and shorter diagnostic work-up in routine practice for a growing number of oncohematologists worldwide.

"This agreement with Arup, reinforces the medical value of the JAK2 test as a diagnostic tool for MPN supported by the World Health Organization [WHO] guidelines and affirms the strong intellectual property position of Ipsogen's JAK2 patent portfolio," said Vincent Fert, chairman and CEO of Ipsogen.

A pioneer of molecular diagnostics for leukemia, Ipsogen develops and markets worldwide a unique and comprehensive range of tests that target the most molecular anomalies known in blood cancer, including its rarest forms. These tests, developed in close cooperation with highly specialized clinical centers, provide information on the type of disease (diagnosis, screening), the aggressiveness of cancer (prognosis), the efficacy of proposed targeted therapies (companion diagnosis) and the course of the cancer being treated (monitoring).

Arup Laboratories is a U.S. clinical and anatomic pathology reference laboratory. Its clients include more than half of the U.S. university teaching hospitals and children's hospitals, as well as multihospital groups, major commercial laboratories, group purchasing organizations, military and government facilities, and major clinics.

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