NEW YORK – StageZero Life Sciences said on Monday it has expanded its five-year licensing deal with Oncore Pharma to add StageZero's BreastSentry and the Prostate Health Index to the drug firm's offering.
In October, Oncore partnered with Dutch medical testing firm BodyCheck to commercialize StageZero's ColonSentry colorectal cancer test in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Oncore acquired the rights to commercialize the test in all countries outside the US and Canada in June. StageZero was previously called GeneNews.
Under the expanded deal, Oncore and its partners will bear all marketing and distribution costs for the tests, as well as costs for collecting test samples and shipping them to StageZero's Richmond, Virginia lab. StageZero will receive a fixed fee for processing and reporting the tests, and it has received 1 million common shares of Oncore and will receive a special royalty payment equal to 10 percent of Oncore's yearly profits.
The original deal had a goal of deploying a total of 1.75 million tests over the next five years. The addition of BreastSentry and Prostate Health Index "will add significantly" to this, StageZero said in a statement.
The company's Chairman and CEO James Howard-Tripp added that BodyCheck, Oncore's partner in the Benelux countries, has indicated it will initiate testing in the first quarter of 2020.