Prometheus Laboratories Inc. announced the execution of a research collaboration and license agreement with Bayer Schering Pharma AG. The collaboration partners Prometheus’ proprietary oncology diagnostic platform with Bayer’s broad oncology pipeline in an effort to stratify patients to appropriate drug candidates and potentially accelerate the development of novel oncology therapeutic products.

Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement, Prometheus will receive an upfront payment, research and development support and testing fees, and potential additional payments upon the achievement of certain development milestones. Prometheus will be eligible for upfront and milestone payments up to $160 million if all drug candidates are successfully developed and obtain regulatory approval.

Prometheus’ proprietary oncology diagnostic platform has the ability to measure the expression and activation of specific cancer pathways with high levels of sensitivity and specificity via tissue or blood sample. This technology has the potential to be used not only in the development process to select and evaluate the efficacy of drugs but also in the clinical setting to enable real-time molecular profiling, monitor drug effectiveness and direct the use of a growing number of targeted therapies.