Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
News Release November 2003 – http://www.microsens.co.uk/

Microsens announces licensing of its unique prion disease diagnostics technologies

Microsens’ unique diagnostics technologies will be a key component in the new prion disease test kits to be developed and commercialised by two leading diagnostics companies.

Microsens Biotechnologies, the London based research and development company, has announced the licensing of its unique Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) detection technologies to the US company IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. and the Japanese company Sanko Junyaku Co. Ltd. IDEXX, a world leader in veterinary diagnostics, has been granted the exclusive, worldwide rights (excluding Japan) to Microsens’ Seprion technology in the animal health and food safety market sectors. The agreement with Sanko Junyaku is exclusive for the use of Seprion in the same market sector within Japan. Access to Microsens’ technology is now enabling both companies to develop and commercialise the next generation of diagnostics for the detection of TSEs in animal tissues and blood, particularly Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, Scrapie in sheep and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer.

Trials already completed by Microsens and its licensing partners have proven Seprion to offer extremely high selectivity for the capture of the abnormal form of the prion protein (PrPres), believed to be the infectious agent in these diseases. There is considerable interest in the prion disease field in the development of highly selective PrPres binding reagents as they allow major improvements to be made to the complex and potentially unreliable post-mortem test kits currently used in the detection and diagnosis of BSE and other TSEs. At present the market, primarily in Europe and Japan, for post mortem BSE test kits for cattle exceeds 100 million USD and, with the development of more effective post-mortem tests, together with the Seprion-based blood test currently in development this could grow significantly within the next 3 to 5 years. In North America there is increasing concern over Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer which, together with the recently announced first case of BSE in Canada, may cause the level of testing by the US and Canadian governments to increase significantly.

Under the terms of the two licensing agreements, Microsens will receive both up front and milestone payments and royalties on sales of products incorporating its Seprion technology.

According to Christopher Stanley, Microsens’ Chief Executive, “Over the past four years we have been developing technologies that are now at the forefront of TSE diagnostic research. These agreements with two of the world’s leading diagnostic companies provide a strong endorsement of our R & D programme.”

He adds, “This is only the first phase of our licensing programme. We are now researching the application of our Seprion technology in new human clinical diagnostic areas – such as screening donated blood for vCJD and developing diagnostic kits for early detection of other CNS disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
ENDS