Through this agreement, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will be the first laboratory in the United States in addition to Berkeley HeartLab, a subsidiary of Celera Corporation, to have access to the relevant intellectual property to develop and perform an in-house test for the KIF6 gene variant previously reported by Celera and its collaborators.
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Celera Corporation (NASDAQ:CRA) today announced that it has licensed its KIF6 discoveries to the University of California on behalf of its San Francisco Campus. Through this agreement, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will be the first laboratory in the United States in addition to Berkeley HeartLab, a subsidiary of Celera Corporation, to have access to the relevant intellectual property to develop and perform an in-house test for the KIF6 gene variant previously reported by Celera and its collaborators. The KIF6 gene encodes a kinesin-like protein 6 (KIF6). Published research studies have shown an association between KIF6 and cardiovascular risk and statin benefit1-4.
“This is consistent with Celera’s strategy to make KIF6 testing broadly available and our efforts to drive our new genetic discoveries into routine personalized care for patients with risk for cardiovascular disease.”
As a result of this agreement, it is expected that UCSF will be able to offer a more personalized treatment approach for those patients with cardiovascular disease. Under the terms of the agreement, UCSF will be allowed to develop and perform its own KIF6 test for three years in California. Testing will be performed at UCSF’s state-of-the-art Pharmacogenomics CLIA-certified laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Alan Wu, professor of medicine at UCSF and chief of the clinical chemistry laboratory at San Francisco General Hospital.
"We’re pleased to partner with a prestigious institution like the University of California, San Francisco to provide access to our intellectual property so they can develop and offer a test for the KIF6 gene variant,” said Kathy Ordoñez, Chief Executive Officer of Celera. “This is consistent with Celera’s strategy to make KIF6 testing broadly available and our efforts to drive our new genetic discoveries into routine personalized care for patients with risk for cardiovascular disease.”
About Celera
Celera is a healthcare business delivering personalized disease management through a combination of products and services incorporating proprietary discoveries. Berkeley HeartLab, a subsidiary of Celera, offers services to predict cardiovascular disease risk and improve patient management. Celera also commercializes a wide range of molecular diagnostic products through Abbott and has licensed other relevant diagnostic technologies developed to provide personalized disease management in cancer and liver diseases. Information about Celera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at http://www.celera.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as “believe,” “expect,” “will,” “should,” “anticipate,” “may,” “could,” and “intend,” among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Celera’s current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Celera notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance, development, and results of our business include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties that: (1) the agreement with UCSF may be terminated; (2) the risk that the testing services contemplated by this agreement will not result in royalty payments to Celera; and (3) the uncertainty that any testing services will be accepted and adopted by the market, including the risk that these testing services will not be competitive with testing services offered by other companies, or that users will not be entitled to receive adequate reimbursement for these testing services from third party payers such as private insurance companies and government insurance plans. The foregoing list sets forth some, but not all, of the factors that could affect Celera's ability to achieve results described in any forward-looking statements. For additional information about the risks and uncertainties that Celera faces and a discussion of its financial statements and footnotes, see documents filed by Celera with the SEC, including its transition report on Form 10-KT and all subsequent periodic reports. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Celera does not undertake any duty to update this information, including any forward-looking statements, unless required by law.
Copyright© 2010. Celera Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Celera is a registered trademark of Celera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U. S. and/or certain other countries.
UC disclaimer
The information stated above was prepared by Celera Corporation and reflects solely the opinion of the corporation. Nothing in this press release shall be construed to imply any support or endorsement of Celera Corporation, or any of its products, by The Regents of the University of California, its officers, agents and employees.
References
1. Iakoubova OA et al. (2008) Association of the Trp719Arg polymorphism in kinesin-like protein 6 with myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease in 2 prospective trials: the CARE and WOSCOPS trials. J Am Coll Cardiol. 51(4):435-43.
2. Iakoubova OA et al. (2008) Polymorphism in KIF6 gene and benefit from statins after acute coronary syndromes: results from the PROVE IT-TIMI 22 study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 51(4):449-55.
3. Shiffman D et al. (2008) Association of gene variants with incident myocardial infarction in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 28(1):173-9.
4. Shiffman D et al. (2008) A kinesin family member 6 variant is associated with coronary heart disease in the Women's Health Study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 51(4):444-8.
