November 2009 -- Genomics USA presented its HLA-Chip technology at the national meeting of The American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI). This appearance was a springboard event for Genomics USA to obtain ASHI certification of its HLA-Chip technology. The Company now believes this certification may be obtained in the fourth quarter of 2010. ASHI certification will strengthen the intended application and approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the HLA-Chip product by 2012. The HLA-Chip product consists of gene probes for the analysis of genetic compatibility in marrow, stem cell & solid organ transplantation: the well-known backbone of transplantation medicine.
October 2009 -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office notified Genomics USA of a Notice of Allowance to Issue a Patent on Population Scale HLA Typing and its Uses Thereof.
September 2009 -- Genomics USA received a prestigious three-year, $3 million Phase II Continuation SBIR award from the National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Disease. This award funds FDA review of the HLA-Chip for analysis of genetic compatibility in marrow, stem cell & solid organ transplantation. The work entails collaboration with three expert labs within the organ and stem cell transplantation community and will provide late-stage commercialization support into that rapidly growing specialty of laboratory medicine.
September 2009 -- Genomics USA received a two-year, $600,000 Phase I Advanced Technology SBIR award from the National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Disease. This funds development of a variant of the HLA-Chip, referred to as the AIDS-Chip for population-scale screening of personal variation in the sensitivity to HIV infection and, more broadly, to infection and inflammatory diseases of other kinds, such as Ciliac Disease and certain types of arthritis, via personalized variation in the immune response.
April 2009 -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Genomics USA the U.S. Patent 7,354,710, "Methods and devices based upon a novel form of the nucleic acid duplex on a surface." This patent comprises an important base for the Genomics USA technology platform.
SOURCE QuantRx Biomedical Corporation