Ventana Medical Systems Inc, a member of the Roche Group, has co-exclusively sub-licensed certain patents and patent applications from Gen-Probe Inc for the worldwide in vitro diagnostic (IVD) rights for measuring ERG protein expression through immunohistochemistry (IHC) in prostate tissue. The license complements the existing Ventana worldwide co-exclusive sublicense under certain patents and patent applications for in situ hybridization (ISH) rights for measuring ETS gene rearrangements, including ERG gene rearrangements in tissue.
"We believe ERG testing by IHC and ISH will play an important role in novel diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive tests for prostate cancer," says Mara G. Aspinall, president of Ventana Medical Systems Inc. "This license gives us a unique position for this important biomarker as we see the opportunity to incorporate the ERG marker into VENTANA assays that can benefit hundreds of thousands of prostate cancer patients each year."
Ventana has ERG IVD assays available globally—including assays for ERG protein via IHC (worldwide IVD) and assays for ERG gene rearrangements via Quantum Dot FISH (CE-IVD)—and the company is developing multivariate assays for novel clinical indications. These assays are available for use on the VENTANA BenchMark line of fully-automated advanced staining instrumentation utilized by thousands of anatomic pathology labs worldwide.
Source: Ventana Medical Systems Inc
