Minerva licenses cancer biomarker technology

By Mass High Tech staff

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Minerva Biotechnologies Corp. has given exclusive development and commercialization rights to Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Clarient Inc. to use the Waltham biotech’s test for identifying MUC1*, the altered protein present in many cancers and on embryonic stem cells.

Clarient CEO Ron Andrews expressed interest in developing a cell blocker for MUC1* to prevent the spread of cancer and said that the company can commercialize the technology using Clarient’s “national pathology distribution network.”

Terms of the licensing deal were not disclosed.

Minerva focuses on both nanotechnology and stem cell therapeutics. It was founded in 1999 by Cynthia Bamdad, based on her work in using nanoparticles in fields such as drug discovery, proteomics, opto-electronics and nanoscale biosensors. The company shifted its strategy in 2001 to use its nanoparticle technology in-house to develop and identify potential drug candidates.

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