Wednesday September 7, 7:30 am ET

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Knopp NeuroSciences Inc. announced today that it has secured an exclusive license from the University of Pittsburgh to commercialize a panel of protein biomarkers as a diagnostic test for the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The markers were discovered by Robert Bowser, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and director of the ALS Tissue Bank. The markers, discovered using SELDI-based mess spectrometry, have demonstrated a high degree of sensitivity and specificity as an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tool for ALS in studies whose controls included patients presenting with neurological disorders other than ALS. Dr. Bowser is a co-founder and paid consultant of Knopp NeuroSciences.

ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease whose diagnosis is currently conducted through extensive clinical observation and testing. The mean time to positive diagnosis is 13 months. KNS expects that the availability of an IVD for ALS will permit much earlier diagnosis, enabling earlier intervention in positive cases. Commercialization of the novel diagnostic will require internal development by KNS, including the completion of a prospective clinical trial in 2006.

In parallel with IVD development, KNS is currently evaluating in-licensing opportunities and internal development for novel diagnostics and therapeutics across the spectrum of acute and chronic neurodegenerative disease. These conditions remain areas of significant unmet diagnostic and therapeutic need.