Celera Corporation, a health care company focused on genetics, and Medical Therapies Limited, a biotechnology company developing midkine-related diagnostic and therapeutic products, have entered into an exclusive license agreement for the use of MTY’s midkine patent portfolio for the development of novel lung cancer diagnostics.

Pursuant to the license, Celera will be able to utilize MTY’s midkine patents for the development and commercialization of diagnostic products to address a range of lung cancer-related applications, including risk assessment, early detection, differentiation, prognosis as well as monitoring of re-occurrence and disease progression and response to treatment.

Numerous clinical studies have been conducted to date validating the role of midkine in early cancer formation. Blood midkine levels are greatly elevated in the early stages of cancer formation and poor prognosis for patients has also been closely linked to high midkine levels in a number of cancers.1-3

“Celera has used a novel mass spectrometry-based approach to identify potential circulating protein biomarkers for non-small cell lung cancer. We believe that midkine could have an important role in a blood-based immunodiagnostic assay and are pleased to be able to incorporate midkine in our on-going research and validation activities towards the development of a method to detect lung cancer using a simple blood test,” said Steve Ruben, vice president of Proteomics at Celera.

The terms of the license include upfront and milestone payments and royalties on net product sales for the life of the relevant patents. Additional financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We are delighted to license our technology to Celera given its history of success in the development of genomics and in particular diagnostic products,” said Maria Halasz, chief executive officer and MD of Medical Therapies. “This license is a significant endorsement of the potential value of midkine for the early diagnosis, prognosis and disease management of cancer.”

“We’re pleased to have licensed Medical Therapies’ cancer-related diagnostic asset and expect that it could be a valuable contributor to our disease assessment and management products in lung cancer,” said Thomas White, chief scientific officer of Celera.

Celera is a healthcare business focusing on the integration of genetic testing into routine clinical care through a combination of products and services incorporating proprietary discoveries.

Medical Therapies Limited is a biotechnology company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.