Abcodia and BIOUNIVERSA announce collaboration for early detection of pancreatic cancer

Abcodia today announces its collaboration with BIOUNIVERSA for the development of a BAG3 biomarker for the early detection of pancreatic cancer.

Abcodia, a biomarker validation company, has today announced a collaboration with BIOUNIVERSA Srl, a spin off from the University of Salerno, which aims to advance the development of the BAG3 protein biomarker for use in the early detection of pancreatic cancer.

BIOUNIVERSA has strong scientific evidence that suggests that serum BAG3 is elevated in patients with pancreatic cancer at the time of clinical diagnosis. Working with Abcodia, the company now aims to further develop the BAG3-based immunodiagnostic by assessing its utility for detecting pancreatic cancer at the earliest stages and in asymptomatic individuals.

Abcodia and BIOUNIVERSA will work closely to design a series of longitudinal studies, identify preclinical cohort samples from the serum biobank suitable for the evaluation of BIOUNIVERSA BAG3 ELISA assay, a technology that has been developed by Prof M.C. Turco and her group from University of Salerno, coordinated by the Prevost, Prof. Raimondo Pasquino. The collaboration aims to build up a unique package of data that will support the licensing of the IP to a development partner.   Both Abcodia and BIOUNIVERSA will work in partnership to identify the most suitable licensee.

Julie Barnes, Chief Executive for Abcodia, said: "I am delighted to be able to announce this commercial collaboration with BIOUNIVERSA. This company has developed a proprietary position on BAG3 and I hope that our partnership will advance that position significantly by assessing how early BAG3 can be detected before clinical diagnosis.”

Professor Roberto Parente, VP of External Relations at BIOUNIVERSA and Professor of Management at the University of Salerno, said: "This collaboration with Abcodia provides access to thousands of quality serum samples, expertise in longitudinal designs and importantly links with other commercial companies. Without access to this cohort of longitudinal and preclinical samples, the further development of our technology would take several years and a large financial commitment. With Abcodia, we are hopeful to accelerate our development and seek a commercial licensee over the next 12 months."

Financial details were not disclosed.

 

ABOUT ABCODIA
Abcodia is a specialist company engaged in the validation and discovery of biomarkers of cancer and other age-related diseases. The company’s prospective biobank has over 5,000,000 serum samples derived from more than 200,000 initially healthy volunteers, 50,000 of whom have provided samples annually, making this an ideal resource for identifying biomarkers for disease screening.

For further information about Abcodia see www.abcodia.com

ABOUT BIOUNIVERSA SRL

BIOUNIVERSA is a spin-out from the University of Salerno and is founded on the work of Professor Arturo Leone (†) and Professor Maria Caterina Turco. Their ground breaking work on cell stress and apoptosis led to the filing of patents around BAG3. In November 2010, BIOUNIVERSA secured investment funding from Fondamenta SGR and Vertis SGR to develop and commercialise its intellectual property.

For further information please see www.biouniversa.com

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MEDIA ENQUIRES Please contact Press Officer Ellee Seymour on 07939 811961 or by email.

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