Myriad Genetics and Sividon Diagnostics Announce Exclusive Co-Marketing Agreement for EndoPredict(R) Outside of the United States

20 januari 2014 ZURICH, Switzerland and COLOGNE, Germany, Jan. 20, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Genetics GmbH and Sividon Diagnostics GmbH today announced that they have entered into an exclusive co-marketing agreement, covering the sales and marketing of Sividon's EndoPredict test outside of the United States. EndoPredict is a second-generation, multigene prognostic test kit for patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Under the agreement, Myriad will receive comprehensive marketing rights to distribute and sell EndoPredict, including in high-growth markets in Europe. The agreement will leverage Myriad's 45-person international commercial team and will significantly increase the number of medical specialists and sales professionals supporting EndoPredict. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed. EndoPredict provides physicians with information to devise personalized treatment plans for their breast cancer patients. The EndoPredict test kit format is an ideal platform for use by clinical pathologists, who desire to conduct testing within their own laboratories. In contrast to older multi-gene tests, EndoPredict detects the likelihood of late metastases (i.e., metastasis formation after more than five years) and can thus guide treatment decisions for chemotherapy as well as extended anti-hormonal therapy. Accordingly, therapy decisions backed by EndoPredict confer a high level of diagnostic safety. EndoPredict was shown to accurately predict cancer-specific disease progression and metastasis in multiple clinical outcome studies with more than 2,200 patients. "Myriad has a significant opportunity to leverage our international presence, and we are pleased to be partnering with Sividon to make EndoPredict even more widely available to patients in Europe and worldwide," said Gary King, Executive Vice President, International Operations, Myriad Genetics. "We are committed to contributing to the health of people in Europe through a strong sales and marketing organization that provides enhanced access to life-saving products for patients and cost effective solutions for healthcare providers. Myriad's team of field specialists will support EndoPredict's current customers in liaison with Sividon's medical expert team, thus providing additional levels of support and contact." "Sividon's EndoPredict, backed by compelling evidence from clinical studies with thousands of patients combined with Myriad's strong commercial capability and coverage in many key countries creates an outstanding partnership," said Dr. Christoph Petry, CEO of Sividon Diagnostics. "Breast cancer affects the life of more than 388,000 women per year in Europe, and EndoPredict will help to significantly improve their cancer treatment. We are delighted to partner with Myriad to help save and improve the lives of more women with breast cancer." About Myriad Genetics GmbH Myriad Genetics GmbH is based in Zurich, Switzerland and is the international subsidiary of Myriad Genetics Inc., a leading molecular diagnostic company dedicated to making a difference in patients' lives through the discovery and commercialization of transformative tests to assess a person's risk of developing disease, guide treatment decisions and assess risk of disease progression and recurrence. Myriad's molecular diagnostic tests are based on an understanding of the role genes play in human disease and were developed with a commitment to improving an individual's decision making process for monitoring and treating disease. Myriad is focused on strategic directives to introduce new products, including companion diagnostics, as well as expanding internationally. For more information on how Myriad Genetics GmbH is making a difference, please visit the Company's website: www.myriad.ch. Myriad and the Myriad logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. in the United States and worldwide. MYGN-F, MYGN-G About Sividon Sividon Diagnostics GmbH was founded in 2010 as a management buyout from Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics in Cologne, Germany. Sividon is dedicated to develop modern methods for the molecular pathology laboratory to help improve the quality of care for cancer patients. Sividon's first product, EndoPredict, has been introduced into the market in 2011 and allows for a more individualized therapy management in breast cancer. For more information on Sividon please visit the Sividon's website at www.sividon.com. Sividon, the Sividon logo and EndoPredict are registered trademarks of Sividon Diagnostics GmbH in Germany and other countries. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to the EndoPredict test and Myriad's partnering with Sividon to market the EndoPredict test in Europe and worldwide; and the Company's strategic directives under the caption "About Myriad Genetics." These "forward-looking statements" are management's present expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: the risk that sales and profit margins of our existing molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services may decline or will not continue to increase at historical rates; risks related to changes in the governmental or private insurers reimbursement levels for our tests; the risk that we may be unable to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services, including our ability to successfully generate revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services tests and any future tests are terminated or cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays or other problems with operating our laboratory testing facilities; risks related to public concern over our genetic testing in general or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries and changes in the structure of the healthcare system or healthcare payment systems; risks related to our ability to obtain new corporate collaborations or licenses and acquire new technologies or businesses on satisfactory terms, if at all; risks related to our ability to successfully integrate and derive benefits from any technologies or businesses that we license or acquire; risks related to increased competition and the development of new competing tests and services; the risk that we or our licensors may be unable to protect or that third parties will infringe the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the risk of patent-infringement claims or challenges to the validity of our patents; risks related to changes in intellectual property laws covering our molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services and patents or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries, such as the Supreme Court decision in the lawsuit brought against us by the Association for Molecular Pathology et al; risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the United States and internationally; and other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10- K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Myriad undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law. CONTACT: Media Contacts: Ron Rogers (801) 584-3065 rrogers@myriad.com Esther Linnenberg +49-221-66956170 linnenberg@sividon.com Investor Contact: Scott Gleason (801) 584-1143 sgleason@myriad.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Myriad Genetics, Inc. via GlobeNewswire [HUG#1755322]