Shares in Asterand PLC (LON:ATD) were lifted in afternoon trade by news that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued two patents covering key methods and applications of the company's BioMAP Systems technology.
Asterand provides human tissue-based services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The stock shot up in the immediate reaction to the news and at 4.00 pm was trading up nearly 13 percent at 17.50 pence.
BioMAP Systems are primary cell-based models of human disease biology, designed to replicate the intricate cell and pathway interactions as they are observed in human pharmacology and toxicology.
Patent 7,908,089 relates to BioMAP and its use for the classification of clinical patient tissue specimens according to the physiological status of cells present in the sample.
Patent 7,912,651 covers key methods of cell selection, culture conditions and screening of biologically active agents utilised by the BioMAP Systems technology.
Chief executive Martyn Coombs said: "Our BioMAP technology represents a truly unique approach and addresses a major unmet need in drug development for model systems that reflect the complexity of human disease. These issued patents represent a key advance as we continue building the intellectual property portfolio around this platform."
The business is split between two distinct divisions. On one side it supplies human tissue to bio-tech research groups while the BioSeek business - which was acquired last year - adds another dimension to Asterand.
BioSeek is a contract research business that uses proprietary drug profiling technology to assess new drugs as they are being developed.