Roche to use Biodyne’s tech for cervical cancer diagnostic kits

Roche, a Swiss multinational healthcare company, is set to use a South Korean company’s technology for cervical cancer diagnostic kits.

Biodyne Co. said on Monday it has licensed out its diagnostic kit technology based on its blowing technology, which more consistently smears cells into a monolayer to improve test accuracy to nearly 100%, to Roche. The deal will expire on Feb. 6, 2039, with automatic renewal every five years after that, according to the company’s regulatory filing.

Biodyne in February 2019 agreed with Roche to transfer various liquid-based cytology patents including the one for blowing technology but did not announce details such as the buyer due to a non-disclosure agreement at that time when the South Korean company was not listed.

The biotech firm is set to receive 8 billion won ($6 million) in a milestone payment – a pre-determined fee deep-pocketed drugmakers pay their collaboration partners after their project passes specific goals – and royalties from Roche. The deal makes Biodyne the first South Korean diagnostic tech company to license out its patents to a global major pharmaceutical maker for royalties.

Biodyne is expected to receive more than 100 billion won in royalties a year from Roche, which is scheduled to sell cervical cancer diagnostic kits applied with the blowing technology from the second half of this year, industry sources in Seoul said. The Swiss drugmaker has reportedly completed the preparation for manufacturing the kits.

“It was better to collect royalties than to excessively expand the company to meet Roche’s (kit) output requirements,” said Biodyne CEO Im Wook-bin.

BEYOND CERVICAL CANCER

Biodyne's blowing technology, which is used to thinly spread cells on a slide with blown air, uniformly attaches cells without damaging them, significantly improving diagnostic accuracy compared to other methods.

Roche and Biodyne have been in talks to apply the technology to diagnostic kits for other diseases such as lung cancer and colorectal cancer.

That will boost royalties from Roche to 150 billion won-160 billion won a year, industry sources in Seoul said.

“It will take four to five years,” Im said when asked when negotiations with Roche for other cancer diagnostic kits would be concluded. “New markets will be created once the diagnostics business begins in low- and middle-income countries where medical services are not systematic.”

Write to Young-Ae Lee at 0ae@hankyung.com
 


Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.