Healthcare products company Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Tuesday announced a development and commercialization agreement with BG Medicine, Inc. for galectin-3, a novel bio-marker that may play a role in detecting the development and progression of heart failure. The assay will be developed specifically for Abbott's 1000SR and i2000SR immunochemistry instrument platform. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Galectin-3 is a protein identified to have an integral role in the biological functions related to the initiation and progression of cardiac fibrosis and scarring which is a leading cause of heart failure. Statistics show that heart failure is a deadly and costly disease with 37% of U.S. Medicare dollars alone spent on heart conditions each year. The agreement grants Abbott a license to BG Medicine's intellectual property related to galectin-3.
Pieter Muntendam, president and CEO of BG Medicine, said, "This development and commercialization partnership with Abbott is an exciting opportunity to explore a promising diagnostic test with broad applicability in cardiovascular disease on a leading laboratory platform."
ABT is currently being traded at $53.26 down $0.37 or 0.69% on a volume of 2.46 million on the NYSE.
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