Biotechnology company, Advanced Biological Laboratories SA (ABL) has acquired all the assets of Melbourne-based, Evivar Medical Pty Ltd. which includes Evivar’s Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and C (HCV) web-based decision support tools for clinicians and the associated viral genome analysis systems (SeqHepB and SeqHepC), intellectual property portfolio, and all related commercial arrangements and operations.
Evivar is a joint venture company to provide accurate and timely therapy management for Hepatitis B & C patients, respectively through its SeqHepB and SeqhepC programmes (web-based decision support tools) to assist physicians to optimise and individualise the treatment schedule of patients with chronic hepatitis.
Dr Chalom Sayada, president and CEO of ABL said, "Our acquisition of Evivar Medical assets will add value and allows ABL to further expand its Virology portfolio from HIV to include Hepatitis disease management. The interface between TherapyEdge, ViroScore, DeepChek and the SeqHepB/C systems is an important milestone for ABL's platform that enables clinicians to manage complex treatment and diagnostics decisions, optimize and provide individualized care.” Sayada further added, "Evivar’s expertise in disease management platform for Hepatitis B and C is a complementary addition to ABL’s infectious diseases management technologies and builds on our commitment to deliver innovative, best-in-class tools.”
ABL will leverage its experience in HIV disease management and expand into the field of viral hepatitis.
Bernie Romanin, CEO of Evivar Medical, stated, “We are excited about this transaction because the combined platforms builds on both companies’ technological strengths to further enhance disease management tools for major viral infections including complex management of co-infected individuals.”
Evivar has partnered with an extensive range of companies worldwide including the largest National Reference Laboratories in the US, global diagnostics companies and specialty hepatitis clinical centres.
The SeqHepB system was originally developed at the Melbourne Health laboratory of Professor Stephen Locarnini (Australia), a world-renowned expert in Hepatitis B and antiviral resistance. Professor Locarnini collaborated with numerous liver disease experts in Australia (Southern Health, St. Vincent's Hospital, Alfred Health, Sydney South West Area Health Service, and Austin Health) and internationally in Madrid (Fundación Investigación y Educación en SIDA), Germany (Verein Der Freunde Der Molekularen Gastroenterologie Und Hepatologie) and Netherlands (Rotterdam; EV, Stichting Leveronderzoek).
Professor Locarnini stated, “I believe that the knowledge we have built over the years in the treatment of HBV and HCV infections can be enhanced by the use of the ABL programmes, especially in contributing to the understanding of the potential clinical impact of very low levels of viral mutations.”
The Evivar SeqHepB and SeqHepC systems provide accurate and timely therapy management for Hepatitis B and C viral infections and can be used to identify mutations present in the infected persons, including predicting resistance levels to commercially available drugs.