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Lab21 Announces Licence Agreement with Ark
Therapeutics for Predictive Coronary Heart Disease Diagnostic
Cambridge, 11th October … Lab 21, a leading provider of
health and environmental diagnostics, is delighted to announce that it has
entered into an exclusive license with Ark Therapeutics of a diagnostic test to
measure autoantibodies to oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL), which is a
predictive risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease (CHD).
The oxLDL test can identify those individuals at the greatest risk of developing
CHD, allowing for early preventative action. In addition, the diagnostic is
expected to radically alter the clinical diagnosis of heart attacks in the
emergency room setting.
Ox-LDL is released from atherosclerotic plaque in increasing amounts as the
plaque becomes more unstable, and thus with the increasing likelihood that an
area of it will break away from the surface of the blood vessel and obstruct
either the coronary artery (causing a heart attack) or a cerebral vessel
(causing a stroke). Because oxLDL has a very short half life within the blood,
measuring it accurately is difficult. However, the body rapidly produces
auto-antibodies and these can be measured by the appropriate antigens.
Dr Berwyn Clarke, CSO of Lab21, commented: “Heart attacks due to atherosclerosis
are the greatest cause of mortality in the developing world and we are very
pleased to licence this diagnostic to such a globally important health issue. We
hope this test will enable the more accurate definition of certain forms of
cardiac disease helping reduce the incidence of heart attacks and providing
obvious economic benefit to healthcare providers worldwide.”
The oxLDL antibody assay is CE marked and is an ELISA test based upon a novel
diagnostic approach with intellectual property surrounding the peptide antigens
used. It will be manufactured by Newmarket Laboratories which is part of the
Lab21 group of companies.
Dr Christian Goodwin, Head of Immunodiagnostics at Newmarket Laboratories,
explains: “The determination of antibodies to oxLDL as opposed to the
measurement of oxLDL directly is important since oxLDL has a short half life and
is unstable; antibody determination is a much more reliable technique to
determine an individual’s exposure and risk profile to this atherogenic factor.
Early clinical studies have already shown that the test performs favourably
against all current gold standard diagnostic markers.”
-ends-
About Lab21
Lab21 is a leading provider of cutting edge diagnostics, supporting drug
discovery, healthcare and environmental monitoring. Its customers include
healthcare providers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, in addition to
organisations that need to monitor their impact on the environment.
Lab21 has a rapidly growing portfolio of diagnostics to support early stage drug
development, clinical trials and regulatory processes in the pharmaceutical
industry and to support clinicians and healthcare providers as they treat and
monitor patients.
The company’s products include diagnostic tests for cancer, liver disease,
respiratory illnesses and infectious diseases such as syphilis through its
subsidiary Newmarket Laboratories. Its pharmaceutical support services which
focus on anti-viral programmes include lead identification and optimisation of
targets, drug resistance profiling, mode of action studies, and drug combination
studies as well as clinical trial support.
The Lab21 group includes MTI (Monitoring Technologies International), a company
specialising in the development of environmental monitoring instruments, and
Newmarket Laboratories, which specialises in the development and production of
high-quality immunodiagnostics for infectious diseases.
Website:
www.lab21.com
About Ark Therapeutics Group plc
Ark Therapeutics Group plc is a specialist healthcare group (the "Group")
addressing high value areas of unmet medical need within vascular disease, wound
care and cancer. These are large and growing markets, where opportunities exist
for effective new products to generate significant revenues. With three marketed
devices, Kerraboot®, Kerraped® and Flaminal®, and three further lead
pharmaceutical products in late stage clinical development: Cerepro®, Vitor™,
and Trinam®, the Group is transitioning from an R&D company to a commercial,
revenue generating business.
Ark's own products are sourced from related but largely non-dependent
technologies within the Group and have been selected to enable them to be taken
through development within the Group's own means and to benefit from Orphan Drug
Status and/or Fast Track Designation, as appropriate. This strategy has allowed
the Group to retain greater value and greater control of clinical development
timelines, and to mitigate the risks of dependency on any one particular
programme or development partner. Ark has secured patents or has patent
applications pending for all its lead products in principal pharmaceutical
markets.
Ark has its origins in businesses established in the mid-1990s by Professor John
Martin and Mr Stephen Barker of University College London and Professor Seppo
Yla-Herttuala of the AI Virtanen Institute at the University of Kuopio, Finland,
all of whom play leading roles in the Company's research and development
programmes.
Ark's shares were first listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2004 (AKT.L).
Contacts at Lab21:
At Lab21:
Dr Jerry Walker, CEO
t : +44 (0)1223 395450
e:
Jerry.Walker@lab-21.com
Dr Berwyn Clarke, CSO
t: +44 (0)1223 395461
e:
berwyn.clarke@lab-21.com
Media relations for Lab21:
Northbank Communications
Tony Stephenson, Account Manager
Sue Charles, CEO
Claire Mosley, Account Executive
t : +44 (0) 20 7268 3002
e:
lab21@northbankcommunications.com
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