NEW YORK – Mainz Biomed said on Tuesday that it has exercised options from Uni Targeting Research and Socpra Sciences Santé et Humaines to acquire intellectual property related to colorectal cancer testing.
Under the deal, the firm acquired all of the previously licensed scientific intellectual property for the stool-based ColoAlert colorectal cancer detection test from Uni Targeting Research, which uses proprietary methods to analyze tumor DNA for specific tumor markers and is combined with a fecal immunochemical test.
Mainz also purchased previously licensed intellectual property, including a pending patent, from Socpra Sciences. This IP is associated with a portfolio of novel gene expression biomarkers that have shown the ability to detect colorectal cancer lesions, including advanced adenomas.
Financial and other terms of the deals were not disclosed.
"Securing complete IP ownership is integral to our growth strategy as it streamlines administration, reduces per-test expenses, and provides us the opportunity to ramp up corporate development activities," Mainz Biomed CEO Guido Baechler said in a statement.
Mainz is already commercializing the ColoAlert test across Europe and in other international markets by partnering with third-party laboratories for test kit processing and providing the test to those labs on an on-demand basis. The company is also evaluating the mRNA biomarkers acquired from Socpra in a multicenter clinical study across the US and Europe to determine their potential to expand the ability of ColoAlert to identify advanced adenomas and to enhance the test's sensitivity and specificity, the firm added.
Results of that study are expected to be reported in the first half of 2023 and will determine whether the biomarkers will be integrated into a separate 15,000-patient study that will report results in 2025. That study will be used in the data package submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for marketing authorization, Mainz said.