Worldwide exclusive licence to liquid biopsy IP for predicting risk of fibrosis and chronic damage rejection
Strengthens patent portfolio covering the entire kidney transplant diagnostic pathway
Verici Dx plc (AIM: VRCI), a developer of advanced clinical diagnostics for organ transplant, announces that it has expanded the scope of its licence agreement with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (“Mount Sinai”) to include an additional patent filing related to the analysis of gene expression in a blood-based test (liquid biopsy) to predict risk of fibrosis (chronic kidney graft damage) and rejection of the graft.
Interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA) is a significant complication in 50-65% of transplants at 12-24 months1 and a major cause of graft rejection in the first year after transplantation2.
The development of a product that can predict risk of fibrosis and rejection using the Company’s core technological approach would extend Verici Dx’s portfolio across the full course of a patient’s transplant journey and complement the Company’s two flagship in vitro diagnostic assays, Clarava™ and Tuteva™. Clarava™ is a pre-transplant prognosis test for the risk of early acute rejection, and Tuteva™ is a post-transplant diagnostic focused upon acute cellular rejection. A further product using this technological approach and focused on risk of fibrosis would support the diagnosis of risk of longer-term graft failure as well.
The development of a novel blood-based immune-phenotyping prognostic test for risk of fibrosis fits well with Verici Dx’s current laboratory capabilities, instrumentation and expertise. Liquid biopsy also allows for easier deployment in clinical care given the limited population of transplant centres that undertake tissue allograft surveillance biopsies and the lower risk and costs associated with blood-based biopsies.
The Company’s multi-centre observational clinical study to validate the clinical performance of Clarava™ and Tuteva™ will also include patients being assessed for fibrosis for an extended study period beyond the initial end points for the first two products in order to collect data in support of validation for this newly licensed test to predict risk of fibrosis.
“The development of a product that can predict the risk of long-term graft failure, alongside our flagship products Clarava™ and Tuteva™, would establish an end-to-end solution for clinicians seeking to understand how a patient will and is responding to organ transplant. There is a critical need for more personalised diagnostic information within transplant care, and in particular technologies informing earlier interventions with anti-fibrotic therapies in advance of irreversible organ damage.”
Notes
Sara Barrington, CEO
Julian Baines, Chairman
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