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.