BD licenses technology to create preeclampsia and gestational diabetes tests

BD has announced a licensing and distribution agreement that will allow it to create new tests for preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.

The agreement with DiabetOmics, a private global medical diagnostics company based in Oregon, will give BD access to pregnancy-specific metabolic tests to provide early identification for these diseases.

DiabetOmics has identified glycosylated fibronectin as a biological marker for the early identification of both conditions. BD plans to create simple, affordable assays using this marker on its Veritor point-of-care diagnostic platform.

The deal will also see BD distribute DiabetOmics' own point-of-care tests and reader, currently under development, in selected international markets.

Gary Cohen, executive vice-president and president of global health for BD, said: "Having an affordable, accessible and easy-to-use testing platform for the identification of both preeclampsia and gestational diabetes will be a large step forward to improve maternal health around the world."

The company saw year-on-year revenue growth of 45.9 percent during the first quarter of 2016, driven by the recent acquisition of CareFusion.