Leveraging Diagnostics in a Biotech World

Executive Summary

Corixa's recent deal with Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics brings Ortho exclusive worldwide diagnostics rights to Corixa's breast cancer genes and antigens and helps Ortho gain a foothold in the emerging area of molecular testing. It also illustrates how biotech companies caught up in long-term programs for therapeutics can capture some near-term value. While Corixa's lead drug is delayed at the FDA, the deal gives the company a source of revenues that may be small but is at least real.