NEW YORK (360Dx) – Food allergy diagnostic developer AllerGenis today announced a non-exclusive deal with Luminex for use of that company's xMAP technology to develop, market, and sell a precision food allergy diagnostic assay.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The assay, which AllerGenis plans to commercialize this year, is a high-throughput, peptide bead-based test which breaks down allergenic proteins into epitopes. It then measures a patient's antibody reactivity to each epitope, generating a detailed profile that can be used by clinicians to manage the allergy.
AllerGenis CEO Jim Garner said in a statement that use of Luminex's technology has increased the "power and scope of our food allergy diagnostics. We have been able to scientifically demonstrate the ability to identify fool allergies with much higher precision over currently available blood tests."
The first allergy assay planned by AllerGenis is a test for peanut allergies, expected to launch in this fall. Tests for other food allergens are in development.
Founded in 2017, AllerGenis is based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania and is a collaboration between therapeutic firm Genisphere and Hugh Sampson of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The firm's epitope mapping technology is based on immunological research by Sampson.