BioSource Signs Joint Development Agreement

BioSource International Inc., a Camarillo firm that develops and markets products used in medical research and diagnosis, has signed a joint development deal with a company headed by an immunologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. It was the second cooperative arrangement between the two companies in the past five months.

The new agreement calls for Immunoplex Inc., whose president is Thomas McDonald, a University of Nebraska associate professor, to develop diagnostic kits used in medical research.

BioSource will pay an undisclosed fee to help fund the research and will also pay a royalty for exclusive worldwide marketing rights to any products developed under the deal, said James H. Chamberlain, BioSource president.

In September, BioSource obtained worldwide rights to an Immunoplex kit for the measurement of Serum Amyloid A, a reagent used in diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis and secondary infections associated with cystic fibrosis and AIDS.

Chamberlain said BioSource’s previously announced merger with San Francisco-based Tago Inc., another producer of items used in scientific research, will probably be completed in March. “We expect our combined revenues to total about $6 million in 1993, compared to a total of $4 million last year,” he said.