USPTO issues notice of allowance to Vermillion's Peripheral Artery Disease biomarker patent

Vermillion, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRML), a molecular diagnostics company, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a notice of allowance for a patent entitled "Panel of Biomarkers for Peripheral Artery Disease" to the company. The patent covers biomarker panels for the diagnosis of Peripheral Artery Disease. The data supporting the patent were published in an article titled, "A biomarker panel for peripheral arterial disease," in Vasc Med. 2008 Aug; 13(3):217-24. This work was done in coordination with Dr. John Cooke at Stanford University. Dr. Cooke is Professor and Associate Director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute at Stanford University School of Medicine.

"The notice of allowance for this PAD biomarker patent expands our intellectual property portfolio and adds to our first mover advantage. This is an asset the company believes could have significant commercial opportunity as we continue to develop and commercialize our VASCLIR™ test for PAD," said Gail S. Page, CEO of Vermillion.