Roche Diagnostics signs hepatitis C immunidiagnostics agreements

Roche Diagnostics has announced that it has signed licensing and settlement hepatitis C immunidiagnostics agreements with Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics and Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics.

Under the terms of the deal, Roche has been granted a global royalty-bearing license for a broad patent portfolio for hepatitis C in immunodiagnostics, with this agreement including the cross-licensing of patents owned by Roche Diagnostics.

Furthermore, all litigation regarding the licenses patents between Roche, Novartis and Ortho has been settled by the agreements, with financial terms of the deal not disclosed.

Hepatitis C virus antibody tests are used to diagnose infection with the virus in patients exhibiting symptoms of suspected liver disease, with the prognosis of infection enhanced by the administration of anti-viral treatment, such as interferon, with it possible to monitor this treatment using further diagnostic tests.

Dirk Ehlers, head of professional diagnostics at Roche, said: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement that provides Roche Diagnostics worldwide access to HCV immunoassays.”

He added that this agreement will enhance the position of the firm in infectious disease diagnostics and foster continued growth in its global immunoassay business.

In January 2007, Roche Diagnostics announced plans to investigate whether its Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HCV test can be marketed for diagnostic use.