Sequenom, Inc., a leading provider of genetic-analysis solutions, has acquired exclusive worldwide rights (excluding Hong Kong) to digital PCR and other non-invasive prenatal diagnostic intellectual property from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). These newly acquired rights expand Sequenom's existing, broad intellectual property portfolio of non-invasive prenatal diagnostic methods using fetal nucleic acids obtained from a maternal sample. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Over the past several years, we have acquired numerous intellectual property assets to protect our plans to enter the non-invasive prenatal genetic diagnostic market and this license is another important addition to our broad and deep IP position in this area," said Harry Stylli, Ph.D., Sequenom's president and chief executive officer. "Our intellectual property includes exclusive rights to the widely recognized and pioneering work of Professor Dennis Lo of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and others. This intellectual property is platform-independent and provides Sequenom exclusivity for development and commercialization of non-invasive prenatal tests on any platform. This agreement expands our leadership position as we continue to advance our clinical development program and commercialization plans for our proprietary, non-invasive Trisomy 21 Down syndrome maternal blood test and other innovative prenatal diagnostic tests."
The exclusive, technology-independent, digital PCR rights announced today, which were developed and validated on Sequenom's MassARRAY platform and Fluidigm's platform, can be adapted for any of the digital PCR platforms that are available, and include the use of fetal nucleic acids obtained from a maternal sample, along with methods of analysis for noninvasive Down (trisomy 21), Edward (trisomy 18), Patau (trisomy 13) and other chromosomal aneuploidy syndrome diagnoses or other autosomal recessive disorders (e.g. cystic fibrosis, thalassemia, Ashkenazi Jewish diseases) utilizing digital PCR.
Sequenom's commercial opportunities in prenatal diagnostics are built upon its SEQureDx technology and are enabled by the pioneering inventions and associated intellectual property rights that it has exclusively licensed from Isis Innovation Ltd., the technology transfer company of the University of Oxford, as well as The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Sequenom's portfolio of noninvasive prenatal diagnostic patent rights and patent applications is platform-independent, includes genetic-analysis methods using circulating cell-free fetal nucleic acids from maternal samples, and also includes a portfolio of methylation and nucleic-acid markers.
Sequenom is actively expanding its intellectual property position with new technology and new territories. Because Sequenom's license rights are platform-independent, the rights provide exclusivity (with the narrow exception in Europe for real time-PCR-based Rhesus D tests) for development and commercialization of noninvasive prenatal tests on any platform and are not limited to the Company's MassARRAY platform.
Founded in 1963, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a forward looking comprehensive research university with a global vision and a mission to combine tradition with modernity, and to bring together China and the West.
Sequenom is committed to providing the best genetic analysis products that translate the results of genomic science into solutions for noninvasive prenatal diagnostics, biomedical research, translational research and molecular medicine applications, and for research conducted in the agro (agricultural and livestock) industry.