The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted expanded patent approval to Biovica, Uppsala, Sweden, for the company’s DiviTum kit technology. US patent protection for DiviTum now includes both the method and kit.

The DiviTum noninvasive blood test is intended for the rapid evaluation of therapy efficacy in patients with advanced cancer, with the aim of providing physicians with more supporting data for optimizing treatment. The test’s first application seeks to evaluate the efficacy of specific treatments against advanced breast cancer.

To document the technology’s application in solid tumors, the company is currently expanding its clinical trial programs and is collaborating with several leading cancer institutes in Europe and the United States.

Anders Rylander, Biovica.

Anders Rylander, Biovica.

“This expanded approval strengthens our patent protection in the United States,” says Anders Rylander, CEO of Biovica. “We will continue to document the unique value that DiviTum can bring to patients with cancer and a more optimal treatment outcome. Our goal is that DiviTum in the future will help physicians to faster evaluate therapy efficacy in order to better optimize their patients’ treatments.”

DiviTum has patent protection in the United States and Canada and across Europe, in total 49 countries. The test is currently for research use only. According to a company spokesperson, the company will first seek collaboration with a CLIA lab to provide it as a laboratory-developed test in the second half of 2017, and will aim to have it FDA cleared in 2018-19.

For more information, visit Biovica.