Innogenetics, Roche sign $27.5 million licensing deal

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Oct. 17 - Roche Diagnostics announced Monday that it has signed an agreement granting Innogenetics full, worldwide license for the use of its patented polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology in the development and commercialization of Innogenetics' molecular diagnostic products.

Under terms of the agreement, Innogenetics will pay Roche up to $27.5 million over a 4-year period, plus royalties, according to a news release.

This broad PCR license will replace the companies' current product-specific licensing agreement and allow Innogenetics to offer its customers the complete set of PCR reagents and processes to carry out PCR-based nucleic amplification for its diagnostic tests so that customers don't have to obtain a separate license from Roche, the release said.

"Innogenetics recognizes the extensive value and utility that Roche Diagnostics' unique PCR technology brings to its molecular diagnostic products," Heiner Dreismann, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics, a business area of Roche, said in the release.

The deal also allows Innogenetics to fully integrate PCR technology in its next-generation diagnostic platform and range of molecular diagnostic tests, the release said.

"The availability of PCR for all of our current and future nucleic acid based tests will allow us to capitalize on the full potential of our new technology platform," Innogenetics chief executive officer Frank Morich said in the release.

Innogenetics is a Gent, Belgium-based biopharmaceutical company building parallel businesses in the areas of specialty diagnostics and therapeutic vaccines.

Basel, Switzerland-based Roche is a leader in diagnostics, supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology.

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