Chiron, a Novartis business, has agreed to extend and expand its blood screening collaboration with Gen-Probe until 2025. The companies will continue to work together to develop and commercialize molecular technologies that safeguard the world's donated blood supply.
The collaboration between Novartis and Gen-Probe was established in 1998. It was previously scheduled to expire in 2013. Under the original terms of the agreement, the companies shared revenue from the sale of blood screening assays. Gen-Probe was responsible for manufacturing costs, while Novartis was responsible for commercial expenses. The companies shared research and development (R&D) costs.
"I am very pleased that our agreement with Gen-Probe has been extended until 2025. Nucleic acid testing is an important tool to safeguard the world's blood supply against harmful pathogens," said Peter Maag, global head of Diagnostics, at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. "This renewed agreement with Gen-Probe provides a solid foundation that enables us to continue our expansion into the transfusion medicine market where we will provide innovative solutions to blood centers worldwide."
Under the revised agreement, Gen-Probe will continue to be primarily responsible for R&D and manufacturing. Novartis will remain responsible for sales and marketing of the products, but will collaborate more closely with Gen-Probe on sales, marketing and distribution strategies. In addition to sharing R&D costs, the companies will share manufacturing expenses. Gen-Probe also will receive a percentage of end-user revenue that escalates gradually from 2009 until 2015, and remains constant thereafter.
As part of the expanded agreement, Novartis has agreed to help fund development of Gen-Probe's Panther instrument, a fully automated molecular testing platform, for the blood screening market. The companies also have agreed to evaluate, using Gen-Probe's technologies, the development of companion diagnostics for current or future Novartis medicines.
Unlike standard serological testing, nucleic acid testing (NAT) detects viral RNA and DNA during earlier stages of infection, shortening the window period from infection to detection. Scientific models estimate that NAT reduces the infectious window period of HIV-1, HCV and HBV from 35-91 per cent, compared with standard serological methods.
Since 1998, Gen-Probe and Novartis have developed, manufactured and commercialized nucleic acid tests and instrumentation that have been used by blood banks to screen more than 125 million blood donations in the United States alone. These tests have intercepted thousands of units of blood that were infected with HIV-1, hepatitis C and B, and West Nile virus, thereby preventing life-threatening diseases from being passed along to transfusion recipients.
"Together these two companies have discovered and developed innovative solutions for the screening and prevention of infectious diseases to help protect the nation's blood supply," said William F Moore, senior vice president, Biomedical Services Operations, American Red Cross. "We are pleased to see this successful collaboration continue to focus on innovations and reinvestment in technology that will help keep the blood supply as safe as possible."