Biocept, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOC) is an early-stage molecular oncology diagnostics company. Shares surged 66.28% through early trading on Tuesday, December 18, 2018. Over the past three months, Biocept has seen an average daily volume of 215,630 shares. However, through Tuesday morning, already 16.38 million shares have traded hands, equating to $18.2 million in dollar volume.
Shares jumped Tuesday morning after Biocept announced it has entered into a Software License and Laboratory Data Supply Agreement with Prognos, Inc. Under these agreements, Biocept will “supply de-identified data from its liquid biopsy testing to Prognos, which will leverage its AI capabilities to help its pharmaceutical clients ensure that the right patients receive the right therapies.” Prognos, Inc. utilizes its AI capabilities to help its clients in the healthcare industry ensure accurate diagnostics and treatments for their patients. Michael Nall, President and CEO of Biocept, commented, “We are looking forward to working with Prognos to leverage the data produced by our molecular diagnostic platform and the ability to generate additional revenue for our business.” Here is the full press release detailing the new agreements:
Biocept, Inc. Press Release:
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Biocept, Inc. (BIOC), a leading commercial provider of liquid biopsy tests designed to provide physicians with clinically actionable information to improve the outcomes of patients diagnosed with cancer, has entered into a Software License and Laboratory Data Supply Agreement with Prognos, Inc., an innovator in predicting disease by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to clinical laboratory diagnostics. Under the agreement, Biocept will supply de-identified data from its liquid biopsy testing to Prognos, which will leverage its AI capabilities to help its pharmaceutical clients ensure that the right patients receive the right therapies. Biocept will utilize Prognos’ proprietary Opal® de-identification software in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 to collect and transmit the data to Prognos.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with Biocept to harness the data generated by its Target Selector™ testing platform,” said Sundeep Bhan, Co-founder and CEO of Prognos. “The number of biomarker targeted therapies in oncology is growing at a significant rate and new technologies like liquid biopsy offer significant potential to improve cancer care. There is strong demand for clinical information that elucidates the capabilities of this innovative technology in the healthcare market. Our partnership with Biocept will further enable our growing list of top life sciences clients to find and convert appropriate patients to the right therapies.”
“With over 16,000 patient samples and more than 60,000 total Target Selector™ tests performed, we are positioned to continue generating important clinical data that, once de-identified and aggregated, can be valuable to the scientific, medical and healthcare delivery communities,” said Michael Nall, President and CEO of Biocept. “We are looking forward to working with Prognos to leverage the data produced by our molecular diagnostic platform and the ability to generate additional revenue for our business.”
About Prognos
Prognos is a healthcare AI company focused on predicting disease to drive decisions earlier in healthcare in collaboration with payers, life science and diagnostics companies. The Prognos Registry is the largest source of clinical diagnostics information in 50 disease areas, with over 20 billion medical records for 185 million patients. Prognos has 1,000 extensive proprietary and learning clinical algorithms to enable earlier patient identification for enhanced treatment decision-making, risk management and quality improvement. The company is supported by a $42 million investment from Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Cigna, GIS Strategic Ventures, Hikma Ventures, Hermed Capital, and Maywic Select Investments. For more information, visit www.prognos.ai.
About Biocept
Biocept, Inc. is a molecular diagnostics company with commercialized assays for lung, breast, gastric, colorectal and prostate cancers, and melanoma. The Company uses its proprietary liquid biopsy technology to provide physicians with information for treating and monitoring patients diagnosed with cancer. The Company’s patented Target Selector™ liquid biopsy technology platform captures and analyzes tumor-associated molecular markers in both circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and in plasma (ctDNA). With thousands of tests performed, the platform has demonstrated the ability to identify cancer mutations and alterations to inform physicians about a patient’s disease and therapeutic options. For additional information, please visit www.biocept.com.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of words like “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “intend,” or “project” or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. To the extent that statements in this release are not strictly historical, including without limitation statements as to our ability to improve the outcomes of patients diagnosed with cancer and the success of the agreement with Prognos and its ability to generate additional revenue for our business, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous risk factors as set forth in our Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The effects of such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. We do not plan to update any such forward-looking statements and expressly disclaim any duty to update the information contained in this press release except as required by law. Readers are advised to review our filings with the SEC, which can be accessed over the Internet at the SEC’s website located at www.sec.gov.
Article By: Andrew Rego
