Posted on June 7, 2004 at 8:54 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) Research Foundation and Apeliotus Technologies of Atlanta have entered into an exclusive license agreement that allows Apeliotus to commercialize a diagnostic testing method for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) developed at UAB by Gregory Jackson, Ph.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology. AMD is the leading cause of untreatable vision loss among adults. It affects 13 million people in the United States alone, including one third of all individuals over 75 years of age.

“This diagnostic test has tremendous potential to identify people for treatment before visual impairment from AMD occurs,” said John Edwards, CEO of Apeliotus. “We look forward to working with Dr. Jackson and his colleagues at UAB, as well as the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital, to bring this great innovation to market.”

“We were fortunate in this instance to have a choice of potential partners for this transaction,” said Alane Barnes, UAB Research Foundation licensing associate. “We chose Apeliotus Technologies for a variety of reasons, including its ability to assist in funding the continued development of this test and the ability to successfully launch this product.”

Apeliotus Technologies, headquartered in Atlanta, develops medical devices and diagnostics based on innovations from universities across the Southeast.

The UAB Research Foundation, the university’s technology transfer division, has completed more than 300 option and licensing agreements, built an extensive portfolio of domestic and foreign patents, and negotiated more than $19.4 million in research agreements since its creation in 1987.

(For more information, contact John Edwards, Apeliotus Technologies, (404) 875-9561 or Alane Barnes, UAB Research Foundation, (205) 975-9443 or abarnes@provost.uab.edu.