This is kind of interesting.
Mayo Clinic has signed to license some patented and patent pending intellectual property from a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company called Pharmigene.
Uusally, companies are licensing such stuff from. At least, those are the deal I typically spot.
In a release I noticed yesterday, it looks like this is all about testin patients with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome to make sure the best drug option is used for their treatment.
Here's a little from the press release:
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Pharmigene, a leader in advancing personalized medicine and reducing severe adverse drug reactions through genetic-based diagnostic solutions, today announced the licensing of its patented and patent-pending intellectual property to Mayo Clinic to develop in-house genetic tests. The tests are being designed for use in detecting the presence of key genetic alleles in individual patients being considered for treatment with drugs that have been linked to the development of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and TENS.
The Food and Drug Administration has determined that individuals testing positive for a particular human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele, HLA-B*1502, in their DNA should not be treated with carbamazepine, a drug used for epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia, and bipolar disorder. These same individuals should not be treated with phenytoin or fosphenytoin, drugs used for seizures, due to a higher risk than the general population of developing Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome is a potentially deadly skin disease that usually results from an adverse drug reaction.
"Our research and subsequent licensing of our technology to Mayo Clinic should help make enormous strides in preventing the emergence of SJS, and reducing the overall health care burdens to the individuals and also to the health care system," reported Dr. Luke Chen, CEO of Pharmigene.
