NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Salt Lake City-based biotech holding corporation Predictive Technology Group announced today that it has acquired DNA and ancestry assets from Taueret Laboratories.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquired assets included approximately 1,000 degenerative disc disease-related DNA samples, related family records, relevant clinical records (including approximately 600 affected probands) and 800 ancestry matched control samples; whole-exome sequencing data on approximately 300 degenerative disc disease samples; more than 800 local controls and published reference populations, and initial analysis of the markers; and exclusive use of a DNA biobank of more than 300,000 samples for multiple diseases that Predictive may target.
"Although our focus remains on endometriosis, the acquisition of these key DNA and ancestry assets significantly strengthens our development platforms to commercialize gene-based diagnostics and biotechnology treatments for other debilitating diseases, such as additional difficult-to-diagnose women's health diseases and degenerative disc disease," Predictive CEO Bradley Robinson said in a statement. "These assets are complementary to our recent acquisition of Inception Dx, which included ancestry database records for over 31.9 million individuals for use in genetics research."
Predictive is currently commercializing an assay that uses genetic biomarkers to determine whether a woman is at risk of developing endometriosis as well as to diagnose the disease and personalize treatment guidance. As Robinson told GenomeWeb in January, the assay was originally developed and patented by Kenneth Ward at Juneau Biosciences, and Predictive licensed the technology in 2016. The firm plans to launch a first product sometime this year, initially in the infertility space, and hopes to ultimately provide its test to any woman with infertility, chronic pelvic pain, or severe PMS.