GTG, Bionomics form epilepsy alliance

Epilepsy gene-hunter Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has announced a strategic alliance with gene-test specialist Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) under which GTG will market Bionomics' epilepsy tests worldwide.

The first Bionomics test that GTG will market under the alliance is for severe myclonic epilepsy in infants (SMEI), one of the most common and severe forms of childhood epilepsy. SMEI manifests in the first two years of life, but its symptoms closely resemble those of common, fever-associated, seizures in childhood, confounding diagnosis.

GTG has obtained exclusive rights to market the SMEI test in Australia and New Zealand, and co-exclusive global marketing rights.

The symptoms of SMEI -- commonly known as grand mal epilepsy -- tend to worsen with age, and up to 18 per cent of patients die. By providing accurate, early diagnosis of SMEI, the Bionomics test should provide a better therapeutic outcome for SMEI patients, according to GTG's executive chairman, Dr Merv Jacobson.

The agreement with GTG comes less than six weeks after Bionomics signed a contract with Boston-based gene-test company Athena Diagnostics which gives Athena co-exclusive rights to market the same SMEI test in the US, Canada and Japan.

Jacobson said GTG said the co-exclusive agreement allows GTG to market the SMEI tests in these countries, and it intends to do so. The alliance also gives GTG co-exclusive rights to market the test in other Asian countries, Europe and South America. GTG will market other Bionomics epilepsy tests under the same umbrella agreement, as they become available, Jacobson said.

"We're already in discussion with major US service providers who have proposed various levels of testing services. It is inevitable and rational that we would extend some of our unique tests to North America and Japan, even though we can't do so exclusively," Jacobson said.

Bionomics has at least half a dozen more tests for different forms of epilepsy in its development pipeline. All but one of the mutant genes responsible for inherited epilepsies have been ion-channel genes, that regulate the flow of charged calcium, sodium, and potassium atoms associated with neural activity in the brain.

Bionomics has discovered more epilepsy genes than any other company in the world, through highly fruitful research partnerships with epilepsy research teams at Melbourne Epilepsy Research Institute at Melbourne's Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, and Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital.