Abreos Biosciences and LifeAssays® AB form a jointly owned company and enter into associated license agreements. The new company is targeting revenue as early as Q1 2020
Abreos Biosciences ("Abreos") and LifeAssays have formed a jointly owned company in line with the Letter of Intent that was signed and published on July 26, 2019 (https://www.lifeassays.com/news-events/genombrott-fandouml-r -lifeassays technology-joint venture with US-Biotec-company-abreos Biosciences-2019-07-26 ). LifeAssay's wholly owned subsidiary Magnasense Technologies Oy ("Magnasense"), Abreos and “NewCo” have also entered into a licensing agreement which enables the new company, under certain conditions, to develop and sell new products and services based on the licensed technology.
About NewCo
The jointly owned company is a Swedish limited liability company which will be financed separately, with a public listing as a possible route. LifeAssays and Abreos have entered into a shareholder agreement that governs the control and ownership of the new company.
License Agreement
The license agreement provides the new company with an exclusive license to use, among other things. patents, applications and technical know-how from Magnasense and Abreos to develop and sell new products and services for biologic drug monitoring. Starting from 2022, the new company will pay a royalty to LifeAssays and Abreos, respectively, of 4 percent of annual revenue from products and services based on the licensed technology.
According to the license agreement, Magnasense and Abreos are to enter into development agreements (the "Development Agreements") with the new company regarding the conditions for transfer of relevant know-how from Magnasense and Abreos to “NewCo”. Magnasense and Abreos shall receive compensation for such transferred know-how. The license agreement becomes effective when the new company (i) has received investments at least equivalent to USD 250,000 and (ii) the development agreements have been entered into.
Development of products and services
Based on Abreos’ and LifeAssay's unique patented technologies, the new company will develop tests to monitor and optimize treatment with so-called biological drugs. The market for biological drugs is growing rapidly and the company will offer tools to correctly follow up and set the treatment for higher efficacy at lower costs and, above all, less risk of serious side effects. Focus areas are MS, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
“Another step is taken in LifeAssay's strategy focusing on human diagnostics. Our MagniaReader system will be an important part of the new company’s investment in diagnostics outside the central laboratory. The work that we have already done with optimizing Herceptin treatment for breast cancer patients will now be able to continue to the product in 2020. From day one, however, we will be able to work with customers in the US where Abreos is ready with MoNATor for optimizing the treatment of those patients with MS treated with Tysabri ”, says Anders Ingvarsson, CEO of LifeAssays AB.
“The formation of this joint company means that we can accelerate the commercialization of our portfolio of products for therapeutic dose monitoring of biological drugs. In addition to our first product applicable in MS, our product portfolio already has 8 additional validated candidates for tests in Autoimmune Diseases and Oncology. This new integrated company can first offer tests for the central laboratory, especially in the United States, while leveraging the MagniaReader platform to develop point of care tests for a broader market. These capabilities will make this new company unique an optimal positioned to deliver these important measures to patients, "says Bradley Messmer, CEO and founder of Abreos Biosciences.
The joint company already has products in place that will be launched in Q1 2020 on the US market. The plan is to launch a handful of tests over the next 2-5 years and at the same time go from analysis at central lab to hospital to finally be able to offer the patient to test themselves at home. The reason for the rapid launch schedule is the maturity and synergy of the parent technologies.
“This is proof that LifeAssay's technology is at the forefront and a fantastic opportunity to quickly reach a global market. The companies are committed to the joint company getting a running start with the greatest support possible. I personally see this as the breakthrough for LifeAssays”, says Anders Ingvarsson, CEO of LifeAssays® AB.
LifeAssays and Abreos will provide updates in the near future with more detailed plans for the companies.
The information in this press release is information that LifeAssays AB is required to disclose in accordance with EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) No 596/2014.
For further information contact the CEO of LifeAssays AB, Anders Ingvarsson on phone +46 46 286 54 00 or email: info@lifeassays.com
About LifeAssays®. NGM-listed LifeAssays® AB's business concept is to develop, manufacture and sell diagnostic systems based on the company's own and patented technology platform MagnetoImmunoAssay (MIA).The company provides safe and robust systems for rapid and reliable analyzes in veterinary medicine. For more details see www.lifeassays.com