A Medical Device Daily

Genesis Bioventures (GBI; New York) said it has granted an exclusive license to Bio Business Development (BBDC) to commercialize Rapid Prion Detection Assays in 18 Pacific Rim countries. The licensed technology has been developed by Prion Developmental Laboratories (PDL), a portfolio company of GBI.

GBI has the exclusive, worldwide sales, marketing and distribution rights to commercialize the recently patented Rapid Prion Detection Assays, including rapid tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow” disease) in cattle and scrapie in sheep. With the agreement, BBDC, a Canadian business development company, becomes GBI's marketing, sales and distribution partner in the Pacific Rim to launch sales of the assays.

“Our commercialization strategy is focused on global partnering, which we believe will get us to market quickly at substantially lower costs,” said Douglas Lane, CEO and president of Genesis Bioventures. “Our initial target markets for PDL's BSE Rapid Assay are in the Pacific Rim. BBDC has extensive contacts in Australia, New Zealand, China, and Japan, which has stringent procedures that require all animals used for food production to be tested for BSE.”

He added: “Our patented Rapid Prion-Detection Assay is designed to test for prion diseases, such as mad cow disease, directly at the point-of-kill rather than in a laboratory. The assay is an easy-to-use rapid strip test that can be administered by trained individuals at slaughterhouses with visual results produced in less than an hour.”

PDL recently achieved 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in a trial on confirmed positive and negative samples at the Veterinary Laboratory Agency (Weybridge, UK).

Formed in 2001, PDL has developed a number of rapid tests that are manufactured on-site. The company produces tests for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats, and chronic wasting disease in deer.

AlzheimAlert distributor in Korea

Nymox Pharmaceutical (Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey) said it has entered into a distribution agreement with Kyung Min Meditech (Seoul, South Korea) for the marketing and sale of the company's AlzheimAlert kit in South Korea.

AlzheimAlert provides physicians with a tool for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by measuring levels of a biomarker for the disease in patient urine samples.

Brian Doyle, Nymox's senior manager for worldwide sales and marketing, said, “Korea represents an important new market for this innovative product. With this agreement, Nymox has a presence in Asia to complement our existing distribution agreements for AlzheimAlert in Europe.”

The AlzheimAlert test measures the level of a brain protein called neural thread protein found in higher amounts in the urine of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Nyox said the test is the only one of its kind and aids in the often-difficult task of diagnosing AD in a patient.

There are an estimated 4.5 million people with Alzheimer's disease in the U.S. alone, a number that is projected to increase almost three-fold to 13.2 million by 2050. Worldwide estimates of the current number of people with the disease range from 15 million to 20 million.

South American distributor for Medwave

Medwave (Danvers, Massachusetts), a developer of sensor-based, noninvasive blood pressure measuring solutions, reported that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Kennedy Distributors, an established medical distributor serving the South American market since the 1940s.

Medwave has previously cited its intention to expand distribution by teaming with reputable distribution partners in key regions of the world market, including Europe, the Middle East, certain countries within Asia, and the Americas.

Kennedy Distributors will represent Medwave's newly introduced Primo Portable Wrist Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Measurement System in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.

Tim O'Malley, president and CEO of Medwave, said Kennedy Distributors has “a long history as a family owned and operated business with multiple sales professionals throughout South America. We are confident that Kennedy will do a great job of helping us penetrate the South American market.”

Medwave's blood pressure monitoring technology is installed in more than 500 hospitals and clinics worldwide.