BIOSITE ANNOUNCES LICENSE FOR RENAL INJURY MARKER

Biosite announced that it has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Columbia University for the use of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), a biomarker that may assist clinicians to quickly and accurately identify acute renal failure within hours rather than days, in diagnostic, monitoring and prognostic applications.

Under the collaboration, Biosite will make antibodies to NGAL using its proprietary antibody development process, which combines immunization of mice and phage display technology to generate highly diverse libraries of Omniclonal antibodies with high affinity and low cross-reactivity.

Acute renal failure remains a common and critical clinical entity affecting 5 percent of all hospitalized patients and 30 to 50 percent of those in the intensive care unit. It is associated with various medical problems, treatments, and procedures. Despite advances in medical care, acute renal failure still carries a significant mortality rate. When acute renal failure is observed in the intensive care unit complicated with other non-renal organ dysfunction, the associated mortality rate is 50 to 70 percent.