Exiqon has granted a non-exclusive license to BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) to use its proprietary locked nucleic acids (LNA) technology in defined products for infectious disease diagnostics.

Under the terms of the agreement, BD is expected to market a number of defined LNA-enhanced products to run on the new BD Max System, BD’s platform for molecular diagnostics based on real-time polymerase chain reaction.

The agreement defines that LNA technology will be applied in the development of FDA-cleared diagnostic products. Exiqon will receive upfront and milestone payments, and royalty on global sales of the products covered by the agreement. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Exiqon and BD said that LNA provides characteristics to molecular assays and offers many potential enhancements for developing advanced products.

Lars Kongsbak, CEO and president of Exiqon, said: “We are pleased to see BD has chosen to apply Exiqon’s proprietary technology enabling these exciting new diagnostic products. We are excited that the LNA technology is now being applied to advanced diagnostic products.”