Bayer Healthcare and Protagen announce partnership

Bayer Healthcare and Protagen have said they have signed a cooperation contract, with regard to the evaluation of the UNIarray technology.

Used for discovery of novel biomarkers in atrial fibrillation, Bayer Healthcare is currently intending to use the tools to investigate the cardiac arrhythmia after heart surgery.

At the moment, it is not possible to predict which patients are at risk of developing the condition – however it is hoped the UNIarray technology will allow for this.

UNIarray of Protagen is a proprietary platform to develop novel diagnostics, based on indication-specific autoantibody patterns in blood samples from patients, with such arrangements present in cancer, several autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.

Last month, Bayer Healthcare said it would pay $97.5 million (67 million pounds), plus interest, in an attempt to form a resolution following allegations the company paid kickbacks to a number of diabetic suppliers.

This caused the companies to submit false claims to Medicare.

Accusations entail Bayer Healthcare engaged in a cash-for-patient scheme, through which it rewarded 11 organisations for converting their patients to its products.

Based in Leverkusen, Germany, the company’s parent organisation Bayer has 106,000 employees worldwide, with a product base of 10,000.