The deal gives the US-based firm access to Oncimmune’s commercialised CE-IVD marked EarlyCDT Lung blood test, autoantibody platform, as well as research and development pipeline

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Immunodiagnostics developer Oncimmune acquired by Freenome. (Credit: PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay)

Freenome said that it has acquired Oncimmune Ltd, a UK-based immunodiagnostics developer, from cancer immune-profiling company Oncimmune Holdings.

The consideration for the acquisition is £13m in cash.

Through the deal, Freenome gains access to Oncimmune’s commercialised CE-IVD marked EarlyCDT Lung blood test, autoantibody platform, as well as research and development pipeline of more than seven cancer detection signatures.

EarlyCDT Lung has been designed to detect increased levels of autoantibodies produced by the body’s immune system of patients having early stages of lung cancer.

Freenome has also acquired Oncimmune Europe, which is another fully-owned subsidiary of Oncimmune Holdings.

The US-based biotech company said that the deal gives it clinical and commercial resources to complement its efforts in frontline screening.

The company utilises a multiomics platform for combining tumour and non-tumour signals with machine learning to enable cancer detection in earliest stages itself using a standard blood draw.

Freenome CEO Mike Nolan said: “The addition of Oncimmune Ltd assets, including a robust pipeline of autoantibody targets, positions Freenome to expand its existing multiomics platform capabilities with non-tumor derived signals and bolsters our tailored portfolio of screening tests for cancer detection.

“In addition, the growing clinical impact of EarlyCDT Lung, a commercialised autoantibody assay, strengthens Freenome’s lung cancer detection capabilities.

“This merger of expertise and technology fortifies Freenome’s holistic approach to the early detection of multiple cancers and accelerates the timeline to bring our screening tests to the forefront of clinical care.”

For Oncimmune Holdings, the sale follows its board’s decision as announced in February 2023 of mulling various options for realising value from non-core assets.

Last July, the EarlyCDT Lung product, EarlyCDT platform, and autoantibody development business, based in Nottingham, UK was restructured. After the completion of the restructuring, the company’s board started a process for the potential realisation of value from the immunodiagnostics business.

Oncimmune Holdings said that it will continue to run its ImmunoINSIGHTS business, mainly via its subsidiary Oncimmune Germany.

Separately, Oncimmune Germany, which trades as ImmunoINSIGHTS, has inked a long-term master services agreement with Freenome. Under the agreement, the US firm will utilise the ImmunoINSIGHTS discovery services business to further expedite its pipeline for various cancers.

Oncimmune CEO Adam Hill said: “We are delighted to pass the EarlyCDT technology platform and pipeline of autoantibody targets for other cancer indications to Freenome to advance Freenome’s multi-cancer early detection screening pipeline.

“We have confidence that in their hands and with our teams’ expertise, the full potential of the technology will be unlocked to the benefit of patients.”