Diagenic Signs Deal With Merz, Gains Access To MCI Biomarkers

DiaGenic has signed an agreement with Merz Pharmaceuticals to gain access to biomarkers for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), increasingly considered a transitional stage to Alzheimer’s disease.

The biomarkers are intended to be used to identify patients with MCI prone to converting to Alzheimer’s disease, for inclusion into Merz’ clinical trial programs. Under the terms of the agreement, Merz will also receive an option for non-exclusive rights to further biomarkers. Financial details were not disclosed.

Erik Christensen, CEO of DiaGenic, said: “This agreement with Merz is a major milestone in DiaGenic’s development, marking both further recognition of our blood-based gene expression diagnostic concept and a new market area.”

“We have already successfully identified biomarkers of prodromal Alzheimer’s disease. The agreement with Merz will enable us to accelerate our ongoing multicenter study by recruiting additional sites. There is a growing consensus that using biomarkers will be critical in order to accelerate development of Alzheimer’s drugs, especially those with disease-modifying or preventive therapeutic effects. We look forward to working with Merz to provide further evidence. In general, patient stratification for clinical trials using biomarkers is a rapidly growing sector and we feel we are poised to make a significant contribution,” he added.