Clarient Inc. of Aliso Viejo, an emerging player in breast cancer testing, is adding some lung cancer tests to its menu.
In late December, Clarient bought Applied Genomics Inc. of Huntsville, Ala., for $17.6 million in stock to help it develop lung cancer tests. Applied Genomics provides testing chemicals to help doctors diagnose cancer, including breast and lung cancer.
The deal will bring Clarient the Pulmotype lung cancer test, tests under development and an eastern U.S. development lab, the company said.
Pulmotype is scheduled to be launched in the current quarter, according to Chief Executive Ron Andrews.
Clarient also plans to commercialize more cancer tests in the following 24 months including tests for lung, breast and ovarian cancers, Andrews said.
Buying Applied Genomics fits into Clarient’s strategy of adding to its tests without spending significant time and resources to develop it internally, said Matt Dolan, a medical device analyst with Newport Beach investment bank Roth Capital Partners LLC.
Applied Genomics’ tests will help Clarient offer more tests “that could compel pathologists to send the primary tumor block back to Clarient early in the diagnostic process, thereby enlarging Clarient’s captive market,” Dolan said in a research note.
Clarient’s existing tests include the Insight DX Breast Cancer Profile, which it came out with in May.
The company reworked its business about five years ago to target cancer testing services for pathologists and oncologists who aren’t near major academic medical centers.
Endologix Patent Case
Irvine-based Endologix Inc., which makes devices to stop ballooning blood vessels, recently asked a U.S. district court judge to stay or dismiss a patent lawsuit brought against it in October by a rival.
Endologix filed the motion about a suit lodged by Cook Medical Inc. of Bloomington, Ind., while the Patent and Trademark Office re-examines the two patents that are being disputed in the lawsuit.
Those patents protect endovascular stent grafts, which are devices used to repair arterial aneurysms. Endologix wants regulators to reconsider whether the patents should have been awarded to Cook in the first place, it said.
The company said it also will argue that its products don’t violate the patents.
Separately, the device maker said in late December that Daniel Lemaitre, a former chief executive of Irvine’s CoreValve Inc., will join its board.
Lemaitre’s appointment gives Endologix four independent directors and three non-independent directors.
CoreValve, which makes less-invasive replacement heart valves, was bought last year for $700 million by Medtronic Inc. of Minneapolis.
CoreValve is chasing Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. in the race to bring less invasive heart valves to the U.S. market.
Radient’s Goals
Tustin-based Radient Pharmaceuticals Corp. recently outlined some financial goals for its AMDL Diagnostics Inc. subsidiary, which makes a cancer testing kit.
Radient, which also makes drugs, said it expects to sell $7.7 million worth of products, including the Onko-Sure cancer test kit, in 2010.
The company anticipates selling nearly 17,000 Onko-Sure kits at an average price of $270 per kit, it said.
The kits cost $58 per unit to make, which would give it a gross profit margin of 81% per test kit sold, or $3.6 million, Radient said.
Radient said that it anticipates that AMDL’s operating expenses will come in at $2.86 million, leaving it an operating profit of $1.62 million for 2010.
But Radient put a caveat on its outline: Executing the AMDL business plan would be dependent upon it raising at least $2 million in the first half of 2010, it said.
Radient didn’t share any specifics on how it would raise money.
The company also said that it would create a nonprofit to promote an outreach program of “stay healthy, get tested” for cancer.
Radient was once known as AMDL Inc., but it changed its name in August as an umbrella for its lines of business, including AMDL.
Stem Cell Co. Funding
California Stem Cell Inc. of Irvine received an undisclosed amount of second-round funding from private investors.
The company said it plans to use the money to continue developing its treatments for spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that causes the deterioration of muscles that control crawling, walking, swallowing and breathing.
The company has finished pre-clinical studies to support an investigational new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration for its lead product, Motorgraft, it said.
The company expects a first-phase safety study for Motorgraft to start in 2010.
