LONDON and FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ —
UCL Business (UCLB), a wholly owned subsidiary of University
College London (UCL), and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a
leading global medical technology company, announced today an
agreement aimed at improving the early detection of ovarian and
breast cancers to ultimately enable earlier and more effective
treatment.
“This agreement demonstrates how UCL and the Institute for
Women’s Health have become an international center of excellence
for research, clinical care and training in the areas of women’s
health and cancer,” said Professor Ian Jacobs, Dean of the UCL
Faculty of Biomedical Science. “We are delighted by our
collaboration with BD and proud that our track record of excellence
in cancer research, including laboratory science and major studies,
such as the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening
(UKCTOCS), will aid in the research and development of new, more
powerful diagnostics for ovarian and breast cancer.”
The agreement negotiated by UCLB grants BD exclusive access to
UCL’s world-class “biobanks,” containing more than 200,000 human
patient samples collected over multiple years in prospective
screening clinical trials for the detection and management of
epithelial ovarian cancer. BD will use these samples to
develop and validate new biomarker assays. Financial terms were not
disclosed.
“The key to defeating ovarian and breast cancers is detecting
the diseases early and managing them effectively. This hinges
on diagnostic tests that provide clinicians with timely and
accurate information,” said Wayne Brinster, Vice President and
General Manager, Women’s Health and Cancer, BD Diagnostics. “To
develop new tests, you need to first validate them against a robust
set of samples that very few institutions possess to assure the
test is performing as planned. The ability to access UCL’s
samples and work with its leading researchers
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