Ark licenses heart attack diagnostic

Licensing agreement

Ark Therapeutics Group plc of London signed an exclusive agreement to out-license UK and international rights to its oxidised low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) auto-antibody diagnostic test kit (EG010) to Lab21 Ltd for commercialisation.

EG010 assesses the risk of a patient having a heart attack. Data from a clinical trial of 121 patients entering hospital with chest pain showed the correlation between a positive test result and heart attack was 80 per cent. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Lab21 will conduct a further trial to investigate the additional predictive characteristics of EG010, take on the final automation and test optimisation prior to launch, and be responsible for sales and marketing. Ark is due a mix of up-front and milestone cash and future equity payments, together with a 5 per cent royalty on future sales. 

At present a range of cardiovascular blood lipid tests (for example, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides and cholesterol) is required to build up a general cardiovascular risk profile, as no single test is sufficiently predictive in isolation. Ox-LDL is released from atherosclerotic plaque in increasing amounts as the plaque becomes more unstable, creating an increasing likelihood plaque will break away from the surface of the blood vessel and obstruct either the coronary artery (causing a heart attack) or a cerebral vessel (causing a stroke). 

Because Ox-LDL has a very short half-life within the blood, measuring it accurately is difficult.  However, the body rapidly produces auto-antibodies, which can be measured by appropriate antigens.