NEW YORK (360Dx) — Banyan Biomarkers announced today that it has nonexclusively licensed its proprietary blood biomarkers of traumatic brain injury (TBI) to Abbott.
The biomarkers — ubiquitin carboxyl terminal hydrolase-L1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein — can be detected in blood soon after a brain injury. They are the basis of San Diego-based Banyan's Brain Trauma Indicator, which received marketing authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in early 2018.
The license builds on a years-old collaboration between Banyan and Chicago-based Abbott, which intends to include the biomarkers in a blood-based TBI assessment test for point-of-care settings and use on its core lab instruments. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"When a physician sees someone in the emergency room with a suspected brain injury, it is critical that we have objective measurements and tests available," Beth McQuiston, medical director of diagnostics at Abbott, said in a statement. "Using novel biomarkers like these will help us develop both point-of-care and core laboratory blood tests for clinicians to assess brain injuries."