Archer Signs MTA with German Biotech for Graphene Based BioSensor Technology

Archer Exploration (ASX:AXE) announced that it has entered into a legally binding Material Transfer Agreement with a leading German biotechnology company for graphene based biosensor technology.

The agreement between the companies is for the development of an electrochemical biosensor made using printable graphene components, capable of detecting diseases.

As quoted in the press release:

“This represents the first opportunity for Archer to work collaboratively with a reputable European, customer facing biotech company,” Mohammad Choucair, CEO of Archer, said. “In a short period of time, we have leveraged the positive outcomes of our collaboration agreement with the ARC Graphene Hub, to progress our strategy in the key focus area of human health. We are confident that we can rapidly progress our biosensor development towards markets that target the use of infectious disease detection.”

The Agreement involves the transfer of materials between Archer and the Partner for use in the development of electrochemical biosensors for the semi-quantitative detection of disease state markers. The materials to be used (“Original Materials”) include those held in the inventory of the Partner (e.g. infectious disease antigens, antibodies, disease state sera, coupling and assay reagents) and materials in the inventory of Archer’s wholly owned subsidiary Carbon Allotropes (e.g. graphene, ink formulations, and printed graphene electrodes)

The Agreement is currently non-exclusive; however, Archer and the Partner intend to progress to an exclusive Collaboration Agreement in the near term. Due to the non-exclusive nature of the MTA, it should be noted, that to avoid circumvention, the company name of the Partner has not been stated.

As the next steps in progressing the MTA, Archer will work with the Partner to identify technical and commercial avenues that address technology gaps in the biosensor market and are able to be serviced by low cost and multi-modal biosensing devices. A study is to be performed using in vitro diagnostic products available to the Partner for infectious disease serology, that aid in the diagnosis of viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal diseases, while jointly assessing and optimising the graphene and graphene ink biosensor componentry performance.

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