Universal Biosensors Delivers on First Development Milestone With Siemens Healthcare
The first milestone, which relates to proof of technical feasibility of a new test strip, has been achieved on schedule and on budget. Universal Biosensors will receive US$1.5 million as consideration for this milestone, bringing the total payments from Siemens to date to US$4.5 million.
Under the agreement, commenced in September 2011, Universal Biosensors will develop a range of test strips and reader products in collaboration with and exclusively for Siemens. In turn, Siemens contributes to development costs through the US$3M up-front fee as well as a series of six milestone payments, due when Universal Biosensors achieves its specified deliverables.
The first product, expected to be launched in 2013, is a version of Universal Biosensors’ point-of-care PT-INR test (used to monitor the application of the anti-coagulant therapy, Warfarin). The new test strip, which has passed technical feasibility in this development milestone, will form the basis of a future product to be commercialised by Siemens following the launch of the PT-INR test.
Paul Wright, CEO of Universal Biosensors said: “Delivering on this first, challenging milestone on time and on budget is an important step forward in our collaboration with Siemens and demonstrates the strength of our research and development capabilities”.
“The point-of-care coagulation testing market is large and growing. Our technology is breaking new ground in this space and Siemens is the perfect partner organisation to commercialise coagulation products in this global market.”
Point-of-care coagulation testing is estimated to be worth over US$1billion annually and is growing at over 10% per year. Universal Biosensors and Siemens are focused on offering new coagulation technologies that deliver laboratory-quality results at the point-of-care in response to growing demand for near-patient testing solutions, including those that deliver time-critical coagulation data.