Share:
PredictImmune, developers of pioneering prognostic tools for guiding treatment options and improving patient outcomes in immune-mediated diseases, today confirmed the expansion of the rights available to it from Cambridge Enterprise, enabling the future expansion of the PredictImmune product range.
The company’s existing worldwide license covers technology—including algorithms and software—relating to the prediction of disease outcome in relapsing-remitting autoimmune and inflammatory disease, specifically inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), both Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis. The new agreement grants PredictImmune ‘first right of refusal’ to additional technology enabling the prediction of disease outcome for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
The expanded agreement will allow PredictImmune to evolve its product development pipeline, accelerating its commercial offering into this new therapeutic area. The agreement is testament to PredictImmune’s strong partnership with Cambridge Enterprise and ensures that the ground-breaking work carried out in founder Professor Ken Smith’s laboratory at the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge is further translated into benefits for patients with these additional chronic, debilitating diseases.
SLE is a form of the autoimmune disease lupus, in which the immune system attacks the patients’ own tissues. SLE can cause widespread inflammation and tissue damage, affecting the major organs such as the lungs and kidneys as well as joints and blood vessels. Whilst lupus can be controlled through lifestyle changes and medical interventions, there is currently no cure. As with IBD, patients with SLE can present with a variable disease course, and it is this variability that makes it an ideal choice for the development of a prognostic test to help identify high-risk patients early on in their disease.
PredictImmune CEO Paul Kinnon said: “The launch of PredictSURE IBD™ has, for the first time, provided IBD patients with vital information about the likely course of their disease at the point of diagnosis. The agreement announced today will allow us to expand our product portfolio to include SLE, which will enable the benefits of prognostic testing to be brought to millions of new patients in the future. It also strengthens our strategic partnership with Professor Ken Smith and the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Our aim is to support clinicians in providing a more personalised approach to the individual patient’s disease. We see this agreement as another very positive step towards that goal, giving clinicians the tools to gain a better understanding of each patient’s disease profile.”