Boston, MA, June 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inform Genomics, Inc., a privately held company that utilizes a proprietary analytic platform to develop genomic-based, precision medicine products, and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), a prestigious university in Taiwan, have entered into an agreement by which Inform Genomics will receive the license to US Patent Numbers 8,522,224 and 8,621,414 for the exclusive use by Inform Genomics to develop precision medicine products.
These patents are based on the work of Chris Gwo Giun Lee, PhD, professor of electrical engineering at NCKU. NCKU is one of the leading universities in Taiwan, with a strong reputation in engineering and computer science, disciplines for which it is ranked among the top universities globally. Terms for the license by Inform Genomics were not disclosed.
"These patents will prove invaluable for the advancement of our analytic architecture," said Carl de Moor, PhD, Inform Genomics Chief Technology Officer. "We will be able to optimize both the efficiency and robustness of our algorithms while creating a state-of-the-art, scalable platform."
"We are pleased to be part of this international top-notch team comprised of multiple disciplines," added Professor Lee. "The license of NCKU patents establishes the beginning of a long-term partnership with Inform Genomics that merges clinical medicine, genomics with its downstream biologic pathways and advances in biostatistics. The multidisciplinary culture of NCKU along with our talent in engineering provides expertise in machine learning algorithms and system architecture that will help both parties meet our mutual goals."
Ed Rubenstein, MD, President and CEO of Inform Genomics, concluded, "The protections offered in this licensing agreement, including global exclusivity for precision medicine product development, further secures our intellectual property portfolio. We believe this, together with our existing IP platform, represents a significant increase in the value of our enterprise."
About Inform Genomics
Inform Genomics, Inc., is a privately held company that utilizes a proprietary analytic platform to develop genomic-based, precision medicine products that are designed to predict, with a high degree of precision and accuracy, clinically important outcomes that assist physicians and their patients in making individualized medical decisions.
The Company's lead development program is in oncology supportive care, with two product candidates currently in development: Oncology Preferences And Risk of Toxicity (OnPART™) and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT)/Mucositis™.
About the Product Candidates
OnPART™ is designed to accurately predict, in advance of chemotherapy, the risk for six clinically significant and costly chemotherapy-related side effects--moderate-to-severe: nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, peripheral neuropathy, oral mucositis, cognitive dysfunction, and fatigue. It not only incorporates genomic risk for side effects, but also offers a unique feature (Preference Assessment Inventory© tool) that quantifies a patient's willingness to tolerate these side effects.
HSCT/Mucositis™ is designed to help identify which patients are at high risk for developing oral mucositis (i.e., debilitating mouth sores), a common side effect resulting from high-dose chemotherapy conditioning regimens used prior to stem cell transplantation. Understanding who is at risk for oral mucositis in advance of these conditioning regimens will help physicians plan primary prevention strategies (e.g., use of palifermin or dose modification), thus reducing the patient, clinical, and economic burden of this serious side effect.
For more information, please visit www.informgenomics.com.
About NCKU
Started as Taiwan's earliest engineering school in 1931, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) has now grown into not only one of the two best comprehensive universities in this country but is also a top ranking world-class university consisting of nine colleges. With around 26,000 students with graduate to undergraduate student ratio being approximately one to one, NCKU is a research oriented university with outstanding achievements in many cross disciplinary research endeavors. In addition to having top rankings in several fields of accomplishment including engineering, life science, and medicine, NCKU has launched several academia industry collaborative projects with several well-known organizations such as, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Intel, Fujitsu, etc. With many years of interactions upon the cross disciplinary platform between NCKU's engineering and medical school for the research of biotechnology, participation of the NCKU team should facilitate the expedition of the development of personalized medicine and bioinformatics into yet another era!