By Ron Shinkman, Editor, Laboratory Industry Report
ViveBio, a Georgia-based company that is attempting to transition from the dry storage and transportation of laboratory specimens, has struck a deal that would place it into the realm of lab diagnostics.
The company said this week it entered into a licensing deal with Renovar, Inc., a mostly under-the-radar Wisconsin firm that has developed urine-based biomarkers that may be used for determining renal health. Specifically, it licensed biomarkers to monitor renal injury progression and predict rejection in kidney transplant patients. The biomarkers are monokine induced by interferon-gamma (MIG), the related MIG protein, and messenger RNA (mRNA).
A study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health indicated that the MIG protein levels were particularly useful in determining potential rejection of a transplanted kidney up to 30 days before there are clinical signs of kidney injury, as well as predicting the health of the transplanted organ for 18 months after the surgery is performed.
The terms of the licensing deal were not disclosed.
“This is an important step for ViveBio as the company evolves from a purely preanalytical player into a clinical diagnostics business,” said ViveBio President Timothy Murray in a statement. “This technology enables monitoring of kidney transplant patients for the earliest indication of rejection and will give clinicians a new tool in post transplant patient management.”
Renovar raised about $3 million in capital nearly a decade ago, but has remained mostly anonymous. It is part of the portfolio of the Appleton, Wis.-based New Capital Fund. The company does not have an independent website.
ViveBio said it expects to have an assay based on the technology ready for market by 2016.