BioVeris enters license agreement to use Jewish General Hospital's database for vaccination program

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Nov. 21 - BioVeris Corp. said Monday that it has entered into an agreement with Jewish General Hospital in Montreal to use the hospital's database that contains demographic data and serologic status on an immigrant population linked to numerous infectious diseases.

The company said it paid $50,000 for the license and research agreement, and also agreed to sponsor about $400,000 of research at the hospital over a period of three years, according to a company news release.

The company said it plans to use the database to develop and sell products and services related to vaccine-preventable diseases, including assessing the vaccine-related immune status of individuals.

The database is linked to infectious diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis A.

The sponsored research is expected to focus on hepatitis B and C, diptheria and tetanus to enhance the database and develop diagnostic panels for different vaccine-preventable diseases.

In 2004, a group of doctors from the hospital studied serum antibody data indicating the susceptibility of immigrants in Canada to vaccine-preventable diseases. The study concluded that immigrants were more susceptible to varicella, rubella and mumps than North Americans.

The study also concluded that adult immigrants would benefit from a targeted vaccination program.

Using the database, BioVeris will be able to further test and refine its immune status database using independently acquired data. The company said it also anticipates that hospital researchers will assist in further development of BioVeris' technology as applied to the immune status assessment of different target populations, officials said.

The company said it plans to use its proprietary approach to develop diagnostic panels to identify and characterize the immune status of different target populations, particularly as applied to vaccine-preventable diseases.

BioVeris is a Gaithersburg, Md., health care company developing proprietary technologies in diagnostics and vaccinology.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.