MDNA, University of Oxford to Collaborate on Endometriosis Diagnostic

Nov 01, 2016 | staff reporter

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – MDNA Life Sciences announced today that it has formed a collaboration with the University of Oxford to further develop and validate its blood-based test for endometriosis.

The test is based on MDNA's Mitomic technology, which enables the isolation of mitochondrial DNA in circulation that may be used as biomarkers. It is being designed for the identification of endometriosis in high-risk patients and women of reproductive age. The collaborators will use clinical samples provided by Oxford to validate the test, and the partnership will be facilitated by Christian Becker and Krina Zondervan, co-directors of the university’s Endometriosis Care and Research Centre, which aims to find novel diagnostics and therapies for endometriosis.

Further terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

"Particularly for endometriosis, which affects 10 percent of women of childbearing age and currently relies on an invasive surgical procedure for diagnosis, there is significant value in the development of a non-invasive molecular test," MDNA CEO Chris Mitton said in a statement. "The combination of our Mitomic technology with the high quality, well-documented clinical specimens from the University of Oxford provides a powerful advantage for our efforts to develop enhanced diagnostic and screening tools for this high-burden disease."

MDNA said that it anticipates launching the test in 2017. The company is also developing tests for prostate, ovarian, and lung cancer.