 |
| The Spartan Rx System--Courtesy Spartan Bioscience |
Canon U.S.A. ($CAJ) just announced its BioMedical subsidiary earlier this month. Now it's made its first med tech deal, an investment in Canadian diagnostic startup Spartan Bioscience, offering a glimpse of what to expect in the future from this new direction for the digital imaging company.
Spartan offers consumer-oriented, rapid DNA testing. Canon expects to work with the startup to develop diagnostic products. The details of the investment remain undisclosed.
"Spartan's goals align with our mission to provide enhanced diagnostic testing systems that can help improve human health worldwide," said Seymour Liebman, EVP, chief administrative officer and general counsel at Canon U.S.A. He added that Canon expects to develop "breakthrough technologies in the area of genetic testing" via the new relationship.
The startup had its FDA clearance in August 2013 for the first rapid DNA test of mutations related to drug metabolism.
The test uses a cheek swab to provide results in less than 60 minutes. Called the Spartan RX CYP2C19 System, it provides a way for physicians to determine a drug regimen by offering an analysis of the CYP450 2C19 genetic pathway that is involved in some of the most commonly prescribed drugs including anti-platelet therapies, beta blockers and proton pump inhibitors.
According to Spartan, the CYP2C19 enzyme metabolizes about 15% of all drugs, but 30% of patients with Caucasian ancestry, 40% of Africans and 50% of Asians and Indians carry gene variants that reduce response to the drugs metabolized by CYP2C19. Three variations account for most of the lower drug metabolism.
The company is in the midst of a couple of clinical trials for the CYP2C19 system. One, slated to be completed in April, is a randomized prospective trial of 50 cardiac stent patients to compare their response to prasugrel versus ticagrelor based on their genetic variants for the 2, 3 and 17 alleles. Another trial, much larger and in partnership with the Mayo Clinic, is anticipated to wrap up in June 2016. It's measuring outcomes for patients who received ticagrelor or clopidogrel in almost 6,000 cardiac stent patients using genotyping the 2, 3 and 17 alleles of the CYP2C19 gene.
Spartan CEO Paul Lem characterized the Canon investment as "probably the biggest milestone we've achieved," also noting the company's manufacturing expertise and global sales network.
- here is the release