Response Biomedical Corporation (TSX: RBM, OTCBB: RPBIF) announced today that the Company has received a Notice of Allowance from the European Patent Office for the patent entitled “Sensitive Immunochromatographic Assay”, referred to as the “Fong Patent”. This critical patent protects key aspects of Response Biomedical’s lateral flow immunoassays conducted with the proprietary RAMP® testing platform.
“Our market expansion plans, in conjunction with our key partners, will have significant focus on the European Union. We expect to see RAMP® continue to set new performance standards in rapid diagnostic testing by providing lab quality information in minutes.”
“The ‘Fong Patent’ is a pivotal piece of our intellectual property portfolio and we are very pleased with the European Patent Office’s (EPO) decision to grant our claims in support of our technology platform,” said S. Wayne Kay, Chief Executive Officer. “Our market expansion plans, in conjunction with our key partners, will have significant focus on the European Union. We expect to see RAMP® continue to set new performance standards in rapid diagnostic testing by providing lab quality information in minutes.”
The Fong Patent describes various methods to improve assay performance through the correction of intrinsic variability in lateral flow assays, which provides more precise results than typical lateral flow methods. This patent has been issued in the United States and Australia and is pending in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Canada. Recently the Company announced it had received further continuation of the Fong Patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the competitive claims, significantly expanding the U.S. intellectual property to allow coverage for small molecules. The Company is currently seeking additional partners to develop products covered under its portfolio of patent protection.