The expanded rights give Amersham access to OGT's sequence variation patents as well as core patents relating to analysing polynucleotide sequences
Amersham has signed a deal that expands the scope of its rights, under its existing licence, to key patents in Oxford Gene Technology DNA microarray patent portfolio.
The expanded rights give Amersham access to OGT's sequence variation patents as well as core patents relating to analysing polynucleotide sequences.
In addition Amersham has obtained rights to sublicense the technology in the research and clinical diagnostic markets. This agreement places Amersham in a strong position, most notably in the clinical diagnostic fields, where CodeLink bioarray technologies can now be partnered with the company's pharmaceutical customers in this rapidly growing and exciting application of personalised medicine.
"This relationship with OGT will greatly strengthen our CodeLink bioarray platform and will help position CodeLink as the most advanced technology within the scientific community to enable both research and clinical diagnostic applications.
"Our ability to sublicense this technology will also enable Amersham to make key partnership decisions, especially in the clinical diagnostic field," said William Castell, chief executive, Amersham.
"This agreement now paves the way for Amersham to expand the CodeLink product family and to develop CodeLink as a clinical diagnostic platform".
"OGT has long had a strong and mutually supportive relationship with Amersham, and with the granting of sublicensing rights to key DNA microarray patents, OGT hopes to promote and encourage continued technology development," said Edwin Southern, chairman of OGT.
"The agreement with Amersham underscores the importance of OGT's intellectual property, which covers the manufacture and use of DNA microarrays in genetic and genomic research".
The CodeLink bioarray product line for gene expression profiling and determining genetic variation features a unique three-dimensional matrix that improves and simplifies the binding of DNA probes on the array. CodeLink products currently available for researcher use include high density ready-to-order arrays of mouse, rat, and human genes, as well as a prepared array of human P450 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and an ADME rat array.
CodeLink Custom Bioarrays are also available with tailored subsets of mouse, rat, or human genes or SNPs, with gene content provided by the customer or supplied by Amersham Biosciences, the life science business of Amersham.
