RICHMOND, Va.
— An ambitious new $3.9 billion NIH grant program to support the research and development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics is set to expand with the signing of a new agreement with leading medical diagnostics company dnp.
The new agreement allows dnp to pursue the development of a diagnostic platform to allow doctors to quickly and easily determine if their patients are at high risk for developing certain diseases.
dnp will get $1.5 billion over four years to build out a diagnostic device that will be a key component of a broader effort to develop diagnostic tools for diagnosing and treating chronic diseases and chronic health conditions.
This will include the development and commercialization of a “comprehensive diagnostic platform” to support clinical use of new diagnostics, including the use of such technologies as CRISPR, to diagnose disease-causing organisms.
The goal is to enable a better understanding of disease mechanisms and to reduce the number of people in the community who are diagnosed with the disease.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for dnp,” said Dr. Daniel Gershman, chief medical officer of dnp, who announced the agreement Wednesday in Boston.
“We believe that the medical community needs to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that are currently being developed by companies like dnp.”
The agreement is being finalized as Congress and the Obama administration begin to debate new regulations for diagnostics.
The regulations, which are due to be announced Thursday, could affect the development, manufacture and use of diagnostics that are already commercially available.
Dnp said in a statement that dnp is “excited to work closely with NIH to provide the tools, information and support needed to accelerate the development” of a diagnostics platform.
“The agreement also allows dpns scientists to develop novel diagnostic tools to accelerate clinical diagnostics,” it said.
“Our platform will leverage the strengths of CRISP and CRISPER, which we will leverage to accelerate discovery of new diseases and therapeutics.”
The new dnp-funded research and discovery program will help to support dnp’s “next generation of diagnosives and therapeuts,” it added.
The company will also partner with other researchers to support these efforts.
The agreement covers work in dnp labs across the United States, Canada, India, and Europe, and will also be supported by dnp partners in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates.
dpnais partners will work to “provide the tools and knowledge that will enable dnp and its partners to bring this technology to market,” the company said.
In a statement, dnp CEO John B. Kelly called the new agreement an important milestone for dpn and for the U.S. healthcare community.
“Today’s agreement is the first step toward our shared goal of transforming the delivery of diagnostic tools and therapeuticals for health care professionals in the U, and it will help drive critical mass in the development community for the next generation of diagnostic technologies,” Kelly said.
