Nanogen, Inc., developer of molecular-biology and rapid diagnostic products, announced today that Celera Corporation has extended its license agreement of Nanogen's patent portfolio in molecular biology to develop additional diagnostic products.
Celera Corporation will use Nanogen’s Minor Groove Binder (MGB) technology to develop in vitro diagnostic products for cardiovascular and oncological applications. This is an expansion of the original license agreement, signed in 2004, in which Celera licensed the technology for development of a hepatitis C genotyping products for individual patient management, monitoring and treatment. Under the Agreement, Celera Corporation will pay Nanogen an upfront license fee, milestone and anniversary fees throughout development, and a royalty on sales of the diagnostic products.
“The Celera license expands our current license into new and exciting molecular diagnostic applications,” said Howard Birnsdorf, Nanogen CEO. “Our MGB technology has been licensed to a number of companies and the expanded field for Celera strongly supports the value of our technology in real-time PCR.”
Nanogen’s MGB technology is licensed broadly in various fields and is now an integral component in thousands of PCR probe products. Nanogen has more than 35 reagent and kit products that are sold for clinical diagnostic use under the MGB Alert® and Q-PCR Alert™ brands.