NEW YORK (360Dx) – Ceres Nanosciences said today it has signed an agreement with Netherlands-based Innatoss Laboratories to offer its Nanotrap Lyme Antigen Test to parts of the European Union.
Under the terms of the agreement, Innnatoss becomes the exclusive provider of the test in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and will offer it as a laboratory-developed test.
The Ceres test uses the company's nanoparticle technology to capture and enrich a Lyme disease protein in urine, allowing clinicians to then detect it via immunoassay and identify infected patients. The company launched US sales of the test in 2015.
The test is intended to improve upon existing serology-based Lyme disease tests, which are the current standard despite issues with their accuracy and sensitivity.
"An effective test for direct detection of [the Lyme-causing organism] Borrelia burgdorferi has been on our and the patients’ wish lists for a long time," Innatoss CEO Anja Garritsen said in a statement, adding that introduction of the test in Europe would be "an important step in overcoming the controversy surrounding Lyme disease testing," referring to whether certain symptoms may or may not be related to active B. burgdorferi infection.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.