NEW YORK ─ Nuclear magnetic resonance diagnostics company Numares said Thursday it has inked an exclusive license agreement with Oxford University Innovation to develop a multimarker diagnostic test to detect multiple sclerosis disease progression.
Under the agreement, Regensburg, Germany-based Numares will further develop MS biomarkers that have been identified by Oxford University into an in vitro diagnostic test.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Numares' Axinon IVD system uses nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure metabolite levels in patient samples. By combining relevant biomarkers and applying machine learning and other modeling approaches, such measurements are enabling the development of multimarker algorithms for various diagnostic tests, the firm said.
The MS test "opens up the possibility to monitor the condition more closely and thus improve therapeutic decision making," Daniel Anthony, head of the experimental neuropathology laboratory at the University of Oxford, said in a statement. If commercialized, the test would enable early detection of the transition from relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis for the first time, he added.
Earlier this year, Numares and Oxford University agreed to extend their partnership for two years and expand the approach for multimarker diagnostic testing to Alzheimer's disease.
In January, Numares said it had inked an agreement with Bruker to commercialize nuclear magnetic resonance-based diagnostic testing.