Abbott Acquires Rights to NAT Tests of artus

By amending an existing agreement, Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL, USA) has gained distribution rights to all of the nucleic acid-based diagnostic tests of artus GmbH (Hamburg, Germany). These tests are designed for use on instruments from Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA, USA; www.appliedbiosystems.com) that use real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to amplify, detect, and quantify nucleic acid sequences.

Under the agreement, Abbott has acquired the rights to infectious disease tests for hepatitis B virus (HBV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV), Parvo B19 virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), and enterovirus. These expand the menu of tests Abbott offers on Applied Biosystems instruments, including assays for quantitatitve HCV and JCV genotyping along with artus' tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), chlamydia, and tuberculosis. Abbott markets these products through an exclusive alliance with Celera Diagnostics (Rockville, MD, USA).

"Real-time PCR is the major driving technology in molecular diagnostics and artus is well positioned as a manufacturer and supplier of high-quality products in this field,” said Ulrich Spengler, managing director, artus GmbH. "The collaboration with Abbott will help us provide laboratories worldwide with real-time PCR kits for infectious disease testing.”

artus Gmbh is a biotechnology company that specializes in pathogen diagnostics through the use of modern genetic procedures. With its RealArt detection assays, artus is one of the first companies worldwide to offer a broad range of licensed real-time PCR kits for pathogen detection applying PCR in the field of infectious disease. Through a license for commercial distribution of PCR, granted in January 2002 and expanded in December 2003, the company is entitled to produce and sell diagnostic PCR kits for human medical management, including tests for infectious diseases, cancer, genetic monitoring, therapeutic drug monitoring, and tissue typing.




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