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Enzo Biochem buys marketing rights to cervical cancer screening test

Published: 15:08 10 Jun 2011 BST

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Enzo Biochem (NYSE:ENZ) announced Friday it has bought the marketing rights for a cervical cancer diagnostic test from IncellDx. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The OncoTect test is a molecular diagnostic test that searches for biomarkers associated with an increased risk of getting cervical cancer in human papillomavirus (HPV) patients.

The testing market for HPV, which is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases and a major cause of cervical cancer, is estimated to be $300 million, growing at an annual rate of 14%.

Once approved, Enzo will be the first New York licensed reference laboratory to offer the test to physicians, which is expected to help them manage the onslaught of diseases in women's health.

"The HPV OncoTect(TM) technology...can be used to identify the genetic expression of HPV that has already integrated into the cell, offering a better indicator of serious HPV infections than can be accomplished by identifying the presence of the virus alone," said medical director Dr. Robert Boorstein.

"This addition to our growing line of molecular diagnostic tests for women's health underscores our expanding specialization in advanced clinical and diagnostic testing.

"We intend to use this test initially for patients who have been shown to be HPV positive by standard techniques."

Enzo Biochem, whose subsidiaries include Enzo Life Sciences, a producer and developer of proprietary labeling and detection products, Enzo Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical venture, and Enzo Clinical Labs, saw its stock on the NYSE go up 0.81% to  $3.74 as of Friday morning.

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