Industry News: Osteolabs GmbH successfully closes first international commercial agreements and starts contract research collaboration with the Health Department of a European Army

osteolabs GmbH has announced the successful closing of its first commercial agreements for Germany and Turkey. For Germany, the company has signed up with Eurofins LifeCodexx GmbH as an exclusive partner in the field of gynecology for the commercialization of its novel diagnostic test for early detection of osteoporosis. Eurofins LifeCodexx became a market leader in this gynecology segment over the last couple of years as the first provider of PraenaTest^®, a non-invasive prenatal testing method (NIPT) for detection of fetal trisomies from maternal blood. For Turkey, a similar commercial agreement has been signed with BioGen Medical, a leading distributor for laboratory-developed tests.

The osteolabs test will be used in a comprehensive contract research collaboration with the Health Department of a European Army over the course of 3 years. During that time, over 1,000 tests will be performed to determine the correlation of calcium depletion with intense physical activities and bone fractures in female military staff. The application of the osteoporosis test should allow the further validation of the potential of the test for early detection of calcium depletion from the skeleton, which could be further used for therapeutic monitoring of osteoporosis medications.

At the opening of its new facilities, in presence of the Minister for Economic and Technological Affairs of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr. Stefan Kloth, Managing Director of osteolabs GmbH said: "We are extremely pleased with the company developments since our 1st financing round closing in summer 2019. With the first two commercial agreements, we will be in a good position in Germany and Turkey to accelerate uptake of our novel testing method.“

osteolab´s Chief Scientist, Prof. Dr. Anton Eisenhauer, commented: "The joint research collaboration together is a strong recognition of the potential of our novel testing method for osteoporosis. With this collaboration we intend to examine whether female military staff experience health issues from calcium depletion as an imbalance in calcium supply may lead to bone fractures even at a younger age.“

Dr. Bernd Buchholz, Minister for Economic and Technology Affairs, said: "osteolabs is a perfect example of successful and creative technology transfer in Schleswig-Holstein.”

At the interface between marine research at GEOMAR and the outstanding life sciences expertise located in northern Germany, marketable ideas ready for application in medical diagnostics have been developed which are now bearing fruit at the international level as well.

The Minister pointed out that osteolabs, originally a project on the early detection of osteoporosis, was a spin-off from the GEOMAR Helmholtz-Center of Marine Sciences. Common properties found in both corals and osteoporosis had been the point of departure.

In collaboration with physicians from the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UK.SH), oceanographers from GEOMAR had transferred methods used for calcium assays in marine research on corals to the diagnostics of osteoporosis. “And thus, a rapid diagnostic test for the early detection of osteoporosis that doesn’t use x-rays was developed,” Minister Buchholz explained.

Want more of the latest science news straight to your inbox? Become a member of SelectScience for free today>>