Toshiba Corp. said Friday it has signed a licensing agreement with U.S. firm Antara BioSciences Inc. to transfer its expertise on compact, low-cost DNA chips and DNA diagnostic equipment.
Antara will use the deal to develop similar products it aims to sell under its own brand in the United States after obtaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Toshiba claims the accord with Antara is the first step toward establishing its proprietary technology for genetic diagnoses as a standard in the U.S.
A DNA chip consists of numerous nucleotide sequences attached to a substrate that serves as a probe to identify whether a test sample contains a particular DNA sequence.
Most existing chips are based on a technology that uses a laser to irradiate a sample and then measures the resulting fluorescence.
But the method requires large equipment and tends to be costly.
The Toshiba technology, which the company calls electrochemical detection, uses smaller machinery with a simplified, easy-to-operate mechanism. It also enhances testing accuracy and lowers costs, Toshiba said.
Antara BioSciences was established in December by Eurus Genomics, a Tokyo-based biotechnology equipment maker, to enter in vitro diagnostic services in the U.S.
The latest agreement with Toshiba covers the technology applied in in vitro diagnoses of diseases in humans.