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Julie Dennehy - 508-533-8311
Woburn, Mass, August 15, 2005 -- Repromedix has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research to develop the next generation of the Y-Chromosome Microdeletion (YCMD) test for evaluating male infertility. The technology was developed by Dr. David Page, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and Drs. Steve Rozen and Helen Skaletsky at Whitehead Institute in Cambridge. Woburn, MA-based Repromedix (www.Repromedix.com) is the leading national laboratory specializing in advanced reproductive testing.
The original YCMD tests were developed by Dr. Page and other researchers starting in 1995, with Page and his colleagues’ publication of the DAZ —“deleted in azoospermia”— gene. When launched by Repromedix in the 4th quarter of 2005, the new YCMD test will be able to detect several additional, newly discovered deletions in the male Y chromosome as well as offer improved localization of sites to better identify previously known deletions. Whitehead Institute has filed for patent protection of the new technology. The new version of the YCMD test, when combined in a genetic male factor panel with the SDD™ and SDFA™ tests for assessing the level of DNA damage to a patient’s sperm, will provide a highly comprehensive and advanced evaluation of male infertility.
Dr. Page, whose group pioneered the study of Y chromosome deletions in infertile men and published the Y chromosome DNA sequence, said he and his team have recently made “significant progress in refining and enhancing the YCMD tests. We have done additional work on understanding the sequence and the mechanisms that generate specific structural deletions and other defects in the Y chromosome that affect male fertility and that were not previously identified.” Whitehead Institute has licensed the technology to Repromedix for both reference lab testing and product development applications.
According to Benjamin Rivnay, PhD, vice president of R&D for Repromedix, his firm’s test will provide infertility specialists with substantially more diagnostic information about the status of the male patient's Y chromosome abnormality. “The new YCMD test will also have a greater prognostic value with regard to infertility or subfertility, because some deletions have been associated with complete failure to find sperm even in testicular biopsies. The new test offers the potential to save patients both the emotional and financial costs of an unnecessary medical procedure,” said Dr. Rivnay. “This test is a natural complement to other advanced male fertility tests already provided by Repromedix.”
Robert D. Oates, MD and Professor of Urology at Boston University School of Medicine, was a participant in the clinical study conducted by Dr. Page and Dr. Rozen. “Before any operative intervention or use of sperm for ICSI, a Y chromosome microdeletion assay and karyotype should be performed in any male with severe oligospermia or non-obstructive azoospermia,” said Dr. Oates. “This new testing promises to provide urologists who specialize in male reproductive medicine and surgery with more complete data about the genetic basis for their patients’ reproductive failure, enabling the patient to make a more informed decision about whether or not ART (assisted reproductive technology) is appropriate for him and his partner.”
About Repromedix
Repromedix is the leading national laboratory specializing in advanced reproductive testing. By taking an interdisciplinary approach to clinical testing, the company helps doctors find solutions to their most difficult cases of female and male infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, and high-risk pregnancy.
The company, based in Woburn, MA, was founded in 1994 by CEO Craig Sockol. It serves physicians and their patients throughout the United States and Canada.