Bionomics allowed US epilepsy gene patent

South Australian genomics company Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has received a notice of allowance for a US patent, forming part of the company's patent portfolio covering a diagnostic test for severe forms of childhood epilepsy.

The allowed patent describes specific mutations in the sodium-channel gene, SCN1A, that has been associated with childhood epilepsy.

Bionomic's DNA diagnostic test scans for a range of different mutations in SCN1A that are variously associated with severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI) or benign childhood epilepsies. SMEI is a serious form of epilepsy that typically strikes infants in their first two years of life and has a mortality rate of up to 18 per cent.

Bionomics' SMEI test is designed to help clinicians make earlier diagnosis of SMEI and is available in the US under license through Athena Diagnostics. The test has also been licensed to Australia-based Genetic Technologies which markets the test worldwide through the Gendia diagnostics network.

The licensing of Bionomics' intellectual property for the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy "contributed to the significant increase in revenues that we were able to achieve in the past year," said Bionomics' CEO and managing director Dr Deborah Rathjen in a statement. "We have applied for patent protection for additional epilepsy diagnostic test that we also hope to license out in the upcoming months."