Australian company Proteomics International (ASX:PIQ) says it has secured patents for PromarkerD, a low cost, high throughput predictive test for diabetic kidney disease, in Brazil and Canada.
There are thought to be over 450 million adults living with diabetes globally and currently one third develop diabetic kidney disease (DKD).
The company said results from an international study recently presented at the 80th annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association, showed PromarkerD was able to predict those patients who went on to develop DKD during the four-year study.
Managing director Dr Richard Lipscombe said, "Being able to correctly predict an early decline in kidney function in these people means that doctors and patients can take action to prevent patients going on to costly dialysis and eventual kidney transplant.”
The company said the new patents complement those already granted in the US, Europe, Australia, China, Indonesia, Russia, Singapore and Japan.
"Together the granted patents cover 225 million (49%) of the addressable diabetes patient population globally. The total protected market expands to 273 million (59%) when regions afforded patent or trademark protection are included," it said.
The company said it is actively pursuing identified global and regional licensing opportunities for PromarkerD across jurisdictions covered by its patents and trademarks and is currently in commercialisation discussions with several different parties.
It said its business model is to out-license its intellectual property to diagnostics providers and to receive a royalty on each test sold. Proteomics International will also sell the specialist reagents required to perform each test, whilst the PromarkerD hub monitors and counts use of the test by each provider.