James and Renee,
James, the RV sounds fun.
There has been some good new lately. The injunction against Roche gives credibility to Igen's approach to Roche's license infringments. It should help in POC negotiations with other potential partners, and in getting Roche to settle things. I think others have been correct in realizing the positive impact of getting the injunction.
The E. coli test has some definite potential. It is highly sensitive and specific,,,,,,and directly detects serotype 157. No biochemical testing or cultures. It was developed with the USDA, and is currently being tested. If approved, it would be among other tests that could be chosen to be used by meat packers. If I understand the other technologies correctly, Igen would be attractive by all parties involved. May be a 50 million market, but FDA may expand testing with the recent outbreak, so maybe double that?
The N-terminal atrial naturietic peptide (n-ANP) is one of two potentially great future tests for heart failure. The other is brain naturietic peptide (BNP), the later is available as a nonexclusive license. I think the jury is out as to which one would be better, a similar situation to troponin I and T. These peptides may be 2 or 3 years from the market as a non-research test (of course they can be run on any patient, but reimbursement could be a problem until more research is done). Though a potential high usage test, it is still too far out to give a solid impression of it's potential.
The cryptosporidium test for water may be more limited, but E. coli may end up also being tested in water in the future. So it could be a limited success.
I continue to be encouraged by the news. It all has potential, and is better that initially seems to be. A good POC deal at this point could move Igen a lot. I wonder what residual DNA is doing? Later. |
