Thursday May 9, 8:34 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: VARIAGENICS, INC.
VARIAGENICS Announces Licensing Agreement With Third Wave Technologies for MTHFR Patents
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--May 9, 2002--VARIAGENICS, INC. (Nasdaq: VGNX - news), a leader in pharmacogenomics, today announced that it has granted a worldwide license to Third Wave Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWTI - news) relating to VARIAGENICS' MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) patent rights. Under the terms of the agreement, VARIAGENICS has granted Third Wave worldwide non-exclusive rights to commercialize both analyte specific reagents needed to detect polymorphisms within the MTHFR gene for all indications and molecular diagnostic tests aimed at the assessment of thrombo-embolic disease risk. The agreement stipulates that VARIAGENICS retains the rights to the development of pharmacogenomic applications in oncology and other disease areas.
"We view this relationship with Third Wave as an important step in our transition to a product-focused molecular diagnostics business model," said Joseph S. (Jay) Mohr, VARIAGENICS' President and Chief Business Officer. "We believe that Third Wave's Invader® technology platform is well-suited to help maximize the value of MTHFR polymorphism testing by providing a highly efficient and accurate system that can impact medical practice."
"Third Wave is pleased to enter into this licensing agreement with Variagenics as part of our ongoing efforts to bring new molecular diagnostics to the patient," said Lance Fors, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Third Wave Technologies. "Variagenics' assessment of the promise of Third Wave's Invader technology for changing the practice of medicine reinforces the significance of Third Wave's strategic in-licensing program, which gives our customers access to the most valuable genetic markers coupled with the power of our Invader technology."
The MTHFR patent rights were acquired from McGill University by VARIAGENICS in 1999. Since then, VARIAGENICS has supported research at McGill focused on the discovery of additional pharmacogenetic utility of the MTHFR gene. Variations in the MTHFR gene have been associated with cardiovascular disease, central nervous system disorders, osteoporosis, disorders influenced by folic acid metabolism, cancer and drug response. Earlier prediction and/or detection of these diseases is a key goal of medical researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare providers. As part of its core business strategy VARIAGENICS has invested significantly in MTHFR-related research programs to identify markers for use in oncology-based pharmacogenomics. In June 2000, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent 6,074,821 titled "cDNA for Human Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase" and in April 2001 issued US Patent 6,218,120 titled "Methods for detecting human methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase allelic variants." Both patents, which were assigned to McGill University, were licensed exclusively to VARIAGENICS under the terms of the original 1999 agreement.
"MTHFR catalyzes a key step in folate metabolism," said Vincent P. Stanton, Jr., M.D., Vice President and Principal Scientist at VARIAGENICS. "There is a well-studied MTHFR polymorphism that has a major effect on the activity of MTHFR protein, and that consequently appears to affect susceptibility to a number of major diseases, and to influence response to a variety of drugs. This agreement with Third Wave in the cardiovascular disease area is one of several relationships aimed at leveraging our intellectual property in the reference laboratory setting while retaining our focus on cancer."
VARIAGENICS, INC. applies its pharmacogenomic technologies to the discovery, development and commercialization of personalized drugs and companion molecular diagnostic products. Using a targeted drug pathway approach, the Company identifies therapeutically important genetic markers, including SNPs, haplotypes and, for cancer studies, loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) and other related indicators. This information is then applied to clinical programs to enhance the success rates of drugs in development, and ultimately to the creation of diagnostics for predicting patient response to drugs.
For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.variagenics.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the effect of pharmacogenomics on therapeutic outcomes and the delivery of healthcare and the role that the Company will play in the field of pharmacogenomics. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, events and performance to differ materially from those referred to or implied in such statements. These risks are identified in VARIAGENICS' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001. The Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law.
Third Wave, Invader and the Third Wave logo are trademarks of Third Wave Technologies, Inc.
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Contact:
VARIAGENICS, INC.
Beverly Holley, 617/588-5318 (Investor Relations)
bholley@variagenics.com
Paul Kidwell, 617/588-5340 (Corporate Communications)
pkidwell@variagenics.com |
