Epoch Biosciences Inc, a provider of proprietary products that accelerate genomic analysis, announced it has expanded its license with Celera Diagnostics, a joint venture between the Celera Genomics Group and Applied Biosystems Group of Applera Corporation, established earlier this year for incorporation of its MGB Technology and Eclipse Dark Quencher Technology into Celera Diagnostics' products for selected infectious diseases.
The amendment expands Celera Diagnostics' rights to incorporate Epoch's minor groove binder and quencher in selected infectious disease products beyond the scope of the original license. All other terms of the original agreement remain unchanged. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
William G. Gerber, M.D., chief executive officer of Epoch, said, "The expansion of this agreement is another validation of the utility of our technology in the growing field of advanced molecular diagnostics. The amendment extends the application of our technology to a larger assay market, and potentially expands the end user sales of licensed products upon which Epoch would earn royalties."
In January 2004, Epoch entered into a worldwide non-exclusive license with Celera Diagnostics for incorporation of its MGB Technology and Eclipse Dark Quencher Technology into Celera Diagnostics' products for selected infectious diseases. The original license allows Celera Diagnostics to manufacture, sell and distribute TaqMan probes that utilize Epoch's minor groove binder and quencher in selected products. Under the agreement, Epoch receives license fees and royalties on sales of such licensed products to end users.
MGB technology is based on a potent class of naturally occurring antibiotics that bind to the minor groove of double stranded DNA. When attached to either the 5' or 3' terminus of DNA probes, hydrophobic binding of MGB molecules to the minor groove stabilizes DNA duplexes formed by these probes hybridizing to their complementary targets. This allows the use of shorter probes with higher sensitivity to mismatches, which is particularly beneficial in the design of probes for the analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) or short, conserved sequences of viral genomes or multi- gene families for which limited target sequence is available. Epoch Biosciences was the first to recognize and utilize the enhanced performance and expanded assay design flexibility that MGB technology provides for DNA probe based detection systems.
MGB is currently incorporated into MGB Eclipse Probe Systems sold by Epoch and in TaqMan products sold by Applied Biosystems in the research field, and in BioControl Systems' food testing products.