Healthcare Industry News: genetic analysis
News Release - April 23, 2009
Celera Licenses Cardiovascular Biomarkers and Other Intellectual Property from Perlegen
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Celera Corporation (NASDAQ:CRA ) today announced it has entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with Perlegen Sciences around predictive markers for coronary heart disease (CHD) and to a family of patents that cover methods of genetic analysis used to detect markers for multi-factorial traits. The Perlegen intellectual property includes gene variants on chromosome 9p21 linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, especially in diabetic patients with poor glycemic control. The license agreement also covers methods and systems that can be used for multi-locus diagnostics.Under the terms of the agreement, Celera will pay an upfront payment and royalties on certain sales of testing products. Additional financial details were not disclosed.
Previous work1-2 has shown that chromosome 9p21 was consistently associated with approximately 30-40 percent increased risk of CHD in 25 independent studies in more than 30,000 participants from multiple Caucasian populations3. Homozygotes for the risk allele of this gene variant comprise 20-30 percent of Caucasians in these studies, and the risk associated with the gene variants was independent of established CHD risk factors such as cholesterol level, hypertension or diabetes.
“We believe access to these highly replicated markers, which complement our internal proprietary genetic discoveries in cardiovascular disease such as KIF6 and LPA, furthers Celera’s commitment to be a leading provider of genetic tests used routinely in personalizing disease management,” said Kathy Ordoñez, Chief Executive Officer of Celera. “These markers are expected to enhance our focus on cardiovascular disease while expanding our menu into diabetes and metabolic syndrome. We believe the additional pharmacogenomic aspects of these markers allow us the potential to personalize disease management that may further improve patient compliance with treatments for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
“Perlegen is pleased to enter this agreement with Celera and support its mission of improving healthcare through modern diagnostic methods in genetics,” said Bryan Walser, M.D., CEO of Perlegen. “The important discoveries these patents represent, including the specific marker for coronary heart disease, should drive continued advances in genetic diagnostics as scientists across the field apply them to determine which genetic markers are present in an individual and combine those markers to help quantify actionable and specific health risks.”
About Celera
Celera is a healthcare business delivering personalized disease management through a combination of products and services incorporating proprietary discoveries. Berkeley HeartLab, a subsidiary of Celera, offers services to predict cardiovascular disease risk and improve patient management. Celera also commercializes a wide range of molecular diagnostic products through Abbott and has licensed other relevant diagnostic technologies developed to provide personalized disease management in cancer and liver diseases. Information about Celera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at http://www.celera.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as “believe,” “expect,” “will,” “should,” “anticipate,” and “intend,” among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Celera’s current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Celera notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance, development, and results of our business include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties that: (1) Celera is using novel and unproven methods to discover markers for the development of new diagnostic products, which may not be successful; (2) the diagnostic industry is very competitive, and new diagnostic products may not be accepted and adopted by the market; (3) demand for diagnostic products may be adversely affected if users of these products cannot receive adequate reimbursement for these products from third party payors such as private insurance companies and government insurance plans; (4) potential product liability or other claims against Celera as a result of the testing or use of its products; and (5) uncertainty of the availability to Celera of intellectual property protection, limitations on its ability to protect trade secrets, the risk to it of infringement claims, and the possibility that it may need to license intellectual property from third parties to avoid or settle such claims. The foregoing list sets forth some, but not all, of the factors that could affect Celera's ability to achieve results described in any forward-looking statements. For additional information about the risks and uncertainties that Celera faces and a discussion of its financial statements and footnotes, see documents filed by Celera with the SEC, including its transition report on Form 10-KT and all subsequent periodic reports. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Celera does not undertake any duty to update this information, including any forward-looking statements, unless required by law.
Copyright© 2009. Celera Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Celera is a registered trademark of Celera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U. S. and/or certain other countries.
1 McPherson, R., et al., (2007). A Common Allele on Chromosome 9 Associated with Coronary Heart Disease Science. Jun 8;316 (5830):1488-91.
2 Talmud, P.J., et al. (2008). Chromosome 9p21.3 coronary heart disease locus genotype and prospective risk of CHD in healthy middle-aged men. Clin. Chem. 54, 467–474.
3 Tousoulis, D., (2008). Candidate gene polymorphisms and the 9p21 locus in acute coronary syndromes. Trends in Molecular Medicine. 14(10)441-449.
Source: Celera Corp
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