Proteome Sciences has entered into an agreement with IDEXX Laboratories, to launch its Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) biomarkers for live cattle, the first testing kit of its kind.

The contract follows the licensing agreement announced last December with Biosite for Proteome Sciences biomarkers in blood for stroke and provides strong endorsement of the value and the utility of Proteome Sciences technology.

The licensing agreement grants IDEXX, a world leader in veterinary diagnostics, exclusive global rights to develop and commercialise diagnostic assays for the detection of BSE in cattle and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) in other animals.

The BSE market for post mortem testing of cattle was €105 million, with the EU paying €15 for each test kit. Experts estimate that the demand could grow to 30 million tests in the EU, projecting a future market size of €450 million. These figures exclude any demand from the US, which has an estimated 100 million cattle population, compared to Europe's 80 million.

The global market for live animal testing for BSE using a simple blood test is expected to be much larger and IDEXX will use Proteome Sciences proprietary biomarkers to seek to develop highly sensitive blood assays for the testing of live animals. Current detection methods require brain tissue or spinal cord samples from slaughtered animals.

Under the terms of the agreement, Proteome Sciences will receive upfront and milestone payments and royalties on sales of products incorporating Proteome Sciences biomarkers.

Commenting, Christopher Pearce, chief executive of Proteome Sciences, said: "This deal endorses our research strategy to address protein changes and to concentrate on high sensitivity differential expression of disease markers. The results provided to IDEXX in a pilot study clearly demonstrated the power of our technology and we are delighted to conclude an agreement with them to develop a blood test for BSE in live cattle.

"In addition to BSE and stroke, we have a range of other biomarker research programmes that are coming through to commercialisation. These, coupled with our high throughput state-of-the-art proteomics facilities in Frankfurt and London, leave us strongly positioned to capitalise on the rapid growth in proteomics which is forecast to reach $5.6 billion in 2005."

Dr Quentin Tonelli, vice president of IDEXX, said: "BSE and other TSEs are important health concerns. The veterinary market currently has no proven diagnostics for BSE in live cattle. Proteome Sciences proprietary proteomic technologies and identification of novel protein markers in blood will enhance our efforts to develop products to serve this major unmet need in veterinary diagnostics."