Nuvelo Inc and Sequenom Inc announced a patent assignment and license agreement. Under terms of the agreement, Nuvelo assigned Sequenom the entire chemical cleavage patent estate acquired through its merger with Variagenics, including 25 issued and pending patents, as well as an exclusive worldwide license to nine additional restriction enzyme patents. Nuvelo will receive a licensing payment and potential royalties for any eventual revenues from sublicensing of the restriction enzyme patents.

"This agreement strengthens our proprietary position with respect to our MassARRAY products and expands our potential application offerings," said Toni Schuh, Sequenom's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This leverages our ability to develop new applications, such as viral load determination, bacterial and viral typing, DNA methylation analysis and mutation detection. The acquisition of this patent estate strengthens our position as a leader in high-performance DNA analysis."

"We are pleased that we have been able to execute on the monetization of some of the Variagenics assets and place them in the hands of a company that is focused on utilizing them to their fullest potential," said Ted W. Love, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nuvelo. "The agreement allows Nuvelo to stay focused on its core business, the discovery and development of life improving therapeutics."