Diagnostic Products And Minerva Sign Development Agreement

Diagnostic Products Corp. and Minerva Pharmaceuticals Inc. have entered into a license agreement for the development of immunoassays for a newly described malignancy protein.

Minerva Pharmaceuticals is a privately held Baltimore-based company formed for the purpose of commercialising platform technology licensed from the University of Maryland.

Minerva founding scientists discovered that altered components of the DNA synthesome are found exclusively in patients with cancer of a variety of types.

Dr. Kenneth Blackman, CEO of Minerva, stated: “The existence of this new malignancy marker provides the potential to diagnose cancer earlier than current technologies. We are delighted to be co- developing this exciting technology with DPC.”

Diagnostic Products Corp. is dedicated exclusively to immunodiagnostic testing.

The company’s products include more than 300 assays to measure microorganisms, hormones, drugs and other medically important analytes present at infinitesimal concentrations in body fluids and tissues.