OvaGene Oncology of Irvine, California announced today that it has completed a major Licensing and Collaboration Agreement with Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center. The agreement provides OvaGene with exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize proprietary microRNA-based assays that predict drug response for currently used cancer treating drugs. The proprietary assays were developed and validated at the Moffitt Cancer Center under the leadership of Dr. Johnathan Lancaster, a world renowned scientist and clinician specializing in Women’s Cancers.
“Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease. If we are to improve outcome for patients, it is essential that we develop tools to support biologically-informed clinical decision-making” said Johnathan Lancaster, MD, PhD, Director of Center for Women’s Oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center. ”As such, we are excited about our new partnership with OvaGene. It will enable us to accelerate our microRNA laboratory findings towards the clinic, as personalized medicine tools that may benefit patients in the near-term.”
“We are delighted to partner with a molecular diagnostics company dedicated to taking important technologies from the bench to the bedside,” said Haskell Adler PhD MBA, Senior Licensing Manager at the Moffitt Cancer Center. ”Because of the shared vision between our two organizations, we are optimistic this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship involving a number of technologies developed here at Moffitt.”
The technology, licensed from The Moffitt Cancer Center, includes proprietary microRNA-based biomarkers that can be used to predict response to chemotherapy in a variety of tumor types. Initially, OvaGene intends to develop a specific microRNA-based profile to predict drug response in advanced ovarian cancer. Following the development of the ovarian cancer assay, OvaGene will focus on creating additional assays for drug response in a variety of gynecologic cancers and pursue strategic partnerships to develop similar profiles in other tumor types. Developmental studies, CLIA lab validation, and subsequent commercialization are expected to occur over the next eighteen to twenty-four months.
“We are looking forward to developing and commercializing the very first cancer microRNA diagnostic assay related to drug response,” said William Ricketts, PhD, OvaGene Chief Scientific Officer. “We are at the forefront of molecular diagnostic development for gynecologic cancers and we are excited about the innovative and clinically useful microRNA drug response panels we will be bringing to market”