Oncocyte Agrees to Enter Licensing and Collaboration Agreement with Chronix Biomedical

Chronix’s blood-based test monitors the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs in clinical trials, and potentially in patients receiving immunotherapy treatment

Further extends Oncocyte’s product portfolio across the continuum of cancer care by adding important liquid biopsy application

Accelerates the launch of Oncocyte’s DetermaRx^TM test into Germany and other EU markets

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncocyte Corporation (NYSE American: OCX), a molecular diagnostics company with a mission to provide actionable answers at critical decision points across the cancer care continuum, today announced that it has agreed to enter a licensing and collaboration agreement with Chronix Biomedical. Oncocyte is licensing Chronix’s patented CNI Monitor technology for the TheraSure-CNI MONITOR clinical assay. This liquid biopsy diagnostic uses copy number instability (CNI) to sensitively quantify the cell-free DNA from the primary solid tumor in a patient’s blood. As part of the collaboration, Chronix will use its proven laboratory network in Germany to accelerate the EU market commercial launch of Oncocyte’s DetermaRx.

The agreement will allow Oncocyte to increase its test portfolio in the U.S. to address a broader care continuum. It expands the Company’s suite of offerings beyond its currently commercially available tests – DetermaRx, for chemotherapy treatment selection, and DetermaIO, for immunotherapy treatment selection. Specifically, the TheraSure-CNI MONITOR test will launch Oncocyte into the market for therapeutic response monitoring, which follows treatment selection in the cancer care continuum. Therapeutic response monitoring includes immunotherapy response monitoring, a market opportunity that independent estimates have projected may approach $15 billion by 2025.

“Adding Chronix’s CNI technology and intellectual property furthers Oncocyte’s emergence as a leader in comprehensive cancer management and presents an entry point into the therapy monitoring market. By identifying early resistance of a tumor to immune therapy drugs, this technology could provide useful information that may allow physicians to rapidly adjust patients’ therapies to optimize the immune system’s power to fight cancer. The rapid expansion of immune therapy options presents many choices for physicians. Thus, quickly assessing the effectiveness of therapies can be a game-changer for patients,” said Ron Andrews, Chief Executive Officer and President of Oncocyte. “This agreement will materially accelerate our opportunity for growth as an emerging leader in the molecular diagnostic landscape for lung cancer as well as other solid tumors. It not only significantly expands our total available market and allows us to offer an additional high-value test to the same physician prescribers, but also adds a fourth revenue growth engine to our three current revenue growth engines—DetermaRx, DetermaIO, and our pharma services business. In addition, we expect Chronix’s proven laboratory network in Germany will accelerate our launch of DetermaRx in the EU, building upon the rapid initial commercial adoption of DetermaRx in the U.S. over the last several months.