Axela-BioCheck Partnership to Produce Biomarker Assays

TORONTO /PRNewswire/ -- Axela Biosensors Inc. and BioCheck Inc. announced a licensing and supply agreement for clinical reagents that will be commercialized into biomarker assays on Axela's dotLab System.

An initial set of research assays will be focused on protein biomarker analysis. Axela intends to further develop these into individual and multiplexed clinical diagnostic panels. BioCheck currently offers most of the reagents that will be transferred to Axela's platform as in-vitro diagnostic products. These assays, some of which are proprietary to BioCheck, are focused at targets in oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, and women's health. These disease areas represent a total protein-based research market of $9.8 billion.

"We are excited by the opportunity to work closely with Dr. John Chen, a recognized leader in the field of immunoassay development with 30 years of expertise," said Rocky Ganske, President and CEO of Axela. "The assays developed with BioCheck reagents will build on Axela's significant and growing catalog of clinical biomarker targets that will be deployed for use with our multiplex dotLab Sensors. This agreement continues Axela's transition from a technology company to a protein analysis solutions provider. The dotLab System will now be the only interaction-based platform on the market with content."

John Chen, BioCheck President & CEO said, "The combination of our high-quality reagents and Axela's innovative platform will provide a benchtop solution to clinical researchers. This will enable them to directly compare known clinical markers to novel biomarkers they are developing in all areas of health research."

Axela's dotLab Assays are targeted against specific disease and pathway-specific proteins. They will be available for purchase individually for use on disposable dotLab Sensors. Multiplex sensors will use up to eight unique biomarker capture proteins selected from the dotLab Assay menu or combined with user-specific capture molecules. Affinity reagents in the dotLab Assay menu are preconjugated with the proprietary Beckman Coulter A2 Universal Linker chemistry to simplify multiplex implementation.

About Axela Biosensors Inc.
Axela Biosensors provides products that accelerate the validation of protein biomarkers from discovery into routine clinical use. Axela's proprietary breakthrough technology, Diffractive Optics Technology (dot), enables the real-time detection and quantitation of protein binding events in complex media. The technology has been incorporated into the dotLab System, a benchtop laboratory platform that delivers simple, affordable, yet highly sensitive protein-based assays. Axela is a privately held company based in Toronto, Canada, whose major investor is VenGrowth Private Equity Partners Inc., one of Canada's premier private equity managers. For more information, please visit the company's Web site.

About BioCheck
BioCheck Inc. is a leading provider of high-quality enzyme immunoassay research services and products, including immunoassay kits for cardiac and tumor markers, infectious diseases, thyroid function, steroids, and fertility hormones. The company operates a 15,000 square-ft., Food and Drug Administration- and ISO 13485-certified medical device manufacturing facility in Foster City, CA. BioCheck has advanced developmental programs on two promising cancer biomarkers, related to the Id-gene and the HMGA2 gene. Id proteins play a significant role in the process of tumor-related angiogenesis and other functions related to blood vessel formation. The HMGA2 gene has been implicated in aggressive forms of breast cancer. For more information, please visit the company's Web site.