Metabolon, a developer of technology for identifying biomarkers, has acquired intellectual property from Cogenics Icoria.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition includes Cogenics Icoria patents and pending patents in metabolomics methods and carcinogenicity and toxicity biomarkers.
Metabolon has developed patented technology around metabolomics (an approach to identifying biomarkers) that it says will "dramatically impact drug discovery and development processes." Metabolomics is the study of small molecules, such as glucose and cholesterol that are produced by cellular metabolism. The metabolome is the catalog of those molecules in a specific organism.
Metabolon offers services for drug developers to find biomarkers for disease detection, prognosis, and therapeutic monitoring plus biomarkers linked to drug toxicity and efficacy.
Cogenics Icoria is a subsidiary of Clinical Data. The company was once known as Paradigm Genetics. John Ryals, the chief executive officer of Metabolon, founded Paradigm in 1997 and served as its CEO until February of 2002.
“The acquisition of this IP estate strengthens our IP position in this field,” Ryals said in a statement. “The methods patents will enhance our leadership position as the world leader in metabolomics analysis. Furthermore, the biochemical biomarker patents will help drive our rapidly developing diagnostics business.”
