Procognia grants Euro-Diagnostica license to provide diagnostic services for gastric cancer

Procognia is proud to announce that yesterday it signed a binding memorandum of understanding with Euro-Diagnostica (ED), a European diagnostic company that currently operates in the Scandinavian and Benelux markets, and is expected to expand its activity into other markets which may include Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK in the near future. Euro-Diagnostica is a private company owned by C&P Investors Ltd, an investment group having various business units in the pharmaceutical industry. C&P Investors Group is owned by a foundation, which is part of the arrangements initiated by the late Dr. Frederik Paulsen who is amongst others the founding father of Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

As detailed in the binding memorandum of understanding, Procognia agrees to grant ED and its service laboratory Wieslab an exclusive service license to provide diagnostic services for gastric (stomach) cancer on the basis of the technological capabilities that Procognia has developed. According to the memo, ED/Wieslab will start to supply these diagnostic services in the countries in which it is currently active, with the option of expanding the activities into other countries should ED begin operations there, providing that Procognia has not already engaged another company to carry out this activity.

The diagnostic services will be provided immediately after the contract is signed, and will be based initially on the "Home Brew" model. This enables licensed laboratories to provide diagnostic services before they have received regulatory approval, on the condition that the physician who referred the request for the diagnostic services is aware of the regulatory status of the specific diagnostic test.

Within the framework of cooperation between the parties, Procognia and ED/Wieslab will implement a multi-center study, and submit the relevant documentation to the regulatory authorities in order to receive the required approval for selling and marketing Procognia's diagnostic kit in Europe.

Procognia agrees that, on receipt of regulatory approval, ED/Wieslab will have first right of refusal for selling and distributing the diagnostic kit outside the laboratories that have been agreed upon in the contract.

In exchange for the service license it has awarded, Procognia will receive an unconditional one-time payment from ED, a transfer price for each diagnostic kit, and royalties. The specific sums will be determined within the framework of the definitive agreement, which will be signed by both parties.

Jörgen Wieslander, Chief Scientific Officer of ED, said: "We are very happy with the agreement. ED has set itself a strategic goal of incorporating state-of-the-art technologies in its capabilities. The unique platform technology developed by Procognia enables us to continue developing diagnostic solutions to a wide variety of cancers. We hope that the first agreement for the gastric cancer area will be the first of many to come in the future. It fits with the Wieslab vision of being a frontline diagnostic service laboratory with clinically important markers."

Alon Natanson, President and CEO of Procognia, said: "We are very proud of the agreement with ED. ED/Wieslab is a very significant player in the field of diagnostics in Europe, which will help us in the process of receiving the regulatory approval and launching of the first diagnostic kit in the market. Our cooperation with ED, in addition to the above, will enable a synergistic solution that will combine Procognia's technology with new state-of-the-art technology ED is currently in the process of developing. The combined diagnostic offer, with its unique high added value, will manifest itself in rapid market penetration and broader market adoption of Procognia's diagnostic technology."