- Medical diagnostics company BARD1 Life Science (BD1) has signed a two-year option agreement with The University of Liverpool for a type 3c diabetes blood test
- The parties will evaluate two novel protein biomarkers that, in preliminary testing, have shown to accurately distinguish type 3c diabetes from type two diabetes in individuals who are newly diagnosed with diabetes
- Notably, one of the researchers leading the project believes there is a link in detecting pancreatic cancer in individuals over 50 years of age and newly diagnosed with diabetes
- BARD1 is up 7.72 per cent on the market this morning and trading at $3.63 per share
BARD1 Life Sciences (BD1) has signed a two-year option agreement with
The University of Liverpool for a type 3c diabetes (T3cDM) blood test.
The parties will evaluate two novel protein biomarkers that, in preliminary testing, have shown to accurately distinguish type 3c diabetes from type two diabetes (T2DM) in individuals who are newly diagnosed with diabetes.
The agreement provides the company with the option to licence the intellectual property for the development and commercialisation of a type 3c test on commercial terms.
Under the terms of the agreement, BARD1 will pay a non-material upfront option fee and support patent costs incurred by the University of Liverpool.
There are around 22.9 million new cases of new-onset diabetes diagnosed around the globe, including 1.5 million cases in the U.S. every year. T3cDM diabetes occurs in around 10 per cent of all new-onset diabetes cases.
T3cDM is mainly caused by inflammation of the pancreas, pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis. Currently, there is no cure and it is often misdiagnosed.
“In and of itself, a test for T3cDM could be an important diagnostic assay, as there would be a strong clinical case for using it to screen all individuals diagnosed with new-onset diabetes,” CSO Dr Peter French said.
“Those individuals that test positive for type 3c diabetes could then be placed in an enhanced surveillance program and screened annually for pancreatic cancer using BARD1’s specific pancreatic cancer tests currently in development. Clearly, this approach could provide a significant improvement in outcomes for patients with both diseases,” he added.
Additionally, BARD1 is developing blood tests for early detection of pancreatic cancer and an accurate T3cDM test could enable better management of T3cDM and people at risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
A molecular biologist at the University of Liverpool and one of the researchers leading the project, Professor Eithne Costello, believes there is a link in detecting pancreatic cancer in individuals over 50 years of age and newly diagnosed with diabetes.
“The UK-EDI study will collect pre-diagnostic samples and data from individuals who will subsequently receive a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. This represents a significant step forward for the field of early pancreatic cancer detection and diagnosis,” she added.
BARD1 is up 7.72 per cent on the market this morning and trading at $3.63 per share at 10:12 am AEST.