QUIDEL Plans to Develop Chip Based Tests for Doctors' Offices
Product Concept Combines Ultrasensitive `On-The-Spot' Disease
Detection With Telemedicine Potential
SAN DIEGO, Calif., July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- QUIDEL Corporation
(Nasdaq:QDEL - news) and closely held Innovative Biotechnologies, Inc. of Niagara
Falls, NY said they plan to jointly develop disposable chip-based diagnostics
offering a "dramatic improvement in the sensitivity of physicians' office
tests."
``The hoped-for result is a series of rapid doctors' office tests that will equal -- if not exceed
-- the sensitivity of tests performed on large laboratory-based systems,'' said Steven T.
Frankel, QUIDEL's president and chief executive officer. ``This would bring clear benefits in
improving the economics and speed of delivering quality health care.''
Studies to confirm the feasibility of the product concept, now underway in labs at Cornell
University, are aimed at integrating a series of technologies owned or controlled by the two
companies.
As part of the agreement, QUIDEL paid Innovative a fee for access to technologies
exclusively licensed to Innovative by the Cornell Research Foundation, Inc., the licensing arm
of Cornell University.
Allan Pronovost, Ph.D., QUIDEL's vice president, research and development, said the
combined technologies employ ``microfabricated interdigitated arrays (IDAs) of
ultramicroelectrodes on a microchip allowing for the ultrasensitive detection of single or
multiple analytes.''
``This digital approach could facilitate the interface of rapid physicians' office tests with other
information systems and future trends in diagnostics and telemedicine,'' he added.
Richard Montagna, Ph.D., president and CEO of Innovative Biotechnologies, said his
organization is extremely pleased to be working with a company of QUIDEL's caliber and is
excited about the possibilities the joint efforts may bring. ``From inception, our goal has been
to establish a series of relationships whereby our technologies would be used by prominent
players in various market niches,'' he added. ``QUIDEL represents an excellent partner to
utilize our technologies in human diagnostic markets.''
At the conclusion of the feasibility studies QUIDEL has the right to take exclusive or
non-exclusive rights to the resulting product(s) in the field of human diagnostics. Innovative
Biotechnologies will receive sublicensing fees and an ongoing royalty stream.
QUIDEL Corporation discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets rapid
immunodiagnostic products for point-of-care detection of human medical conditions and
illnesses. These products provide simple, accurate, and cost effective diagnosis for acute and
chronic conditions in the areas of reproductive and women's health, infectious diseases,
allergies and autoimmune disorders. QUIDEL's products are sold to professionals in the
physician's office and clinical laboratory, and to consumers through retail drug stores. For
more information, visit the Company's web site at quidel.com.
This press release contains forward looking statements regarding QUIDEL and its future
sales-related activities. Actual results could differ materially from those described or implied in
this press release as a result of a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the outcome
of this feasibility study, the future growth of the waived-only markets, any adverse actions by
the Company's distribution partners, competitive products, other economic factors affecting
the Company's markets, the degree of acceptance that new products achieve, and
seasonality, as certain of these items have been discussed in the Company's Annual Report on
Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Form 10-Q.
SOURCE: QUIDEL Corporation
Contact: Steven T. Frankel, President and Chief Executive Officer of QUIDEL Corporation, 619-552-7902,
or Richard A. Montagna, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Innovative Biotechnologies, Inc.,
716-283-1434 |
