ReNeuron gains revenue-share on new cell line patent

UK-based ReNeuron has entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with the international Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA, concerning newly-patented research conducted by these institutions on certain gene-based somatic cell expansion technology.

ReNeuron's entitlement to revenues generated from the commercial exploitation of this technology stems from a pre-existing agreement between the UK firm and the LICR going back to 1998.

The technology developed at the LICR and Dana-Farber concerns the controlled expansion, or conditional immortalization, of a range of somatic cells using the SV40 Large T Antigen with a gene variant that renders the cell lines genetically stable and therefore suitable for a range of commercial drug discovery applications.