Aterovax, a developer of products for atherosclerosis, has signed a three year, exclusive agreement with SPI-Bio to distribute and sell the company’s sPLA2 activity test in Europe to academic and research laboratories for research use.
Aterovax said that the phospholipases A2 (PLA2) superfamily of enzymes plays a key role in the inflammatory process by generating chemical intermediates. The activity of secretory PLA2 (sPLA2) is closely associated with the rupture of the atherosclerotic plaque and the subsequent risk of cardiovascular events.
In research, Aterovax’s sPLA2 activity test offers considerable promises for investigating cardiovascular and inflammation diseases, screening drug candidates as well as elucidating their mechanism of action.
Xavier Morge, managing director of SPI-Bio, said: “While sPLA2 is not a new molecule, it was really interesting to see that it became a new biomarker in the light of the validation work performed by Aterovax. This assay not only perfectly supplements our existing range in the field of metabolic diseases, but also complies with our policy to market fully validated kit in the appropriate biological samples.”
Dominique Surun, CEO of Aterovax, said: “We believe that SPI-Bio is the ideal partner in Europe for the research applications of our sPLA2 activity test. Not only do they have a strong network and customer base in laboratories conducting inflammation research, SPI-Bio already has experience in the sPLA2 field.
“The collaboration is the first step in our global strategy of finding the best distribution partners for our sPLA2 activity test. We anticipate signing similar deals in other territories throughout 2010.”