SECAUCUS, N.J. and HELSINKI, March 15,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Zora Biosciences Oy, a clinical
diagnostics company whose mission is to identify robust markers of
disease and develop them into high-throughput, health-economic
value-added clinical methods, today announced it has signed a
non-exclusive license agreement with Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX),
the world leader in diagnostic information services, for Zora's
patented ceramide-analysis technology.
Quest plans to develop a test service based on Zora's ceramide
technology as an aid in identifying patients at risk for
cardiovascular-related disease and death, assuming successful test
development and favorable market conditions. Research indicates
that ceramides, a type of blood lipid, can provide evidence
of potential cardiovascular-related death risk in patients
with stable coronary heart disease and acute coronary syndrome
independent of LDL-cholesterol status.1 Quest
expects to begin to offer the new test service in the United States through its Cardiometabolic
Center of Excellence at Cleveland HeartLab as soon as next
year.
"In the post-COVID era, it will be increasingly important to
reduce the healthcare burden and by investing in prevention, early
detection and effective intervention, patient morbidity, mortality
and societal costs can be reduced. Zora's ceramide-based technology
can take cardiovascular testing beyond LDL cholesterol to the next
level of precision in cardiovascular diagnostics. Our relationship
with Quest Diagnostics is a significant stepping stone for Zora by
giving our test potentially wide access to the United States, where heart disease is a
critical healthcare issue," said Reini
Hurme, Zora CEO.
Zora Biosciences Oy employs its ceramide-based technology in a
test service called CERT available in Finland with plans to expand availability
across Europe near term. The
relationship with Quest Diagnostics is expected to expand the use
of ceramides in the United States,
where cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death. The
American Heart Association predicts that nearly half of the
American population will have some form of cardiovascular disease
by 2035. Currently, in the United
States, someone has a heart attack every 40
seconds.2
"The data supporting the use of ceramides show its potential to
identify patients at risk for recurrent heart attacks and death
before they occur. With these insights, providers and patients can
take more aggressive preventative measures to reduce risk, improve
outcomes and lower healthcare costs," said Mouris Saghir, PhD, vice president, general
manager, Cardiovascular Metabolic and Endocrine Franchise, Quest
Diagnostics. "Ceramide-based lab services would complement and
extend our industry-leading menu of cardiometabolic tests, which is
focused on empowering providers and patients with insights to
identify the potential for adverse events at their earliest, most
treatable stages."
About ZORA
Zora Biosciences Oy has more than a decade
of experience in mass spectrometry-based lipid biomarker discovery
and development. Zora identifies and develops new diagnostics to
improve health, increase quality of life and lower healthcare
costs. Zora uses in-house mass spectrometry platforms, extensive
collaborator network for clinical studies, and intellectual
property know-how to generate biomarker candidates. High-throughput
capabilities are used to analyze tens of thousands of clinical
samples delivering the needed validation for novel biomarker based
diagnostic tests. Zora's flagship test is the ceramide based, CERT,
Cardiovascular Event Risk Test. Zora's in-development pipeline also
includes Dx for COVID-19 treatment guidance, Fatty Liver
assessment, and Ovarian Cancer.
About Quest Diagnostics
Quest Diagnostics empowers
people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the
world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic
insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire
healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest
annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the
physicians and hospitals in the United
States, and our 50,000 employees understand that, in the
right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can
inspire actions that transform
lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com.
1 Eur Heart J, 2016 Jul
1;37(25):1967-76. doi:
10.1093/eurheartj/ehw148. Epub 2016 Apr 28.
2 Cardiovascular diseases affect nearly half of
American adults, statistics show | American Heart Association
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SOURCE Quest Diagnostics