The story has been revised to include the firm's announcement of its 1-for-15 reverse stock split.
NEW YORK — Aspira Women's Health said on Thursday that it has acquired the exclusive rights to develop a microRNA-based ovarian cancer test based on technology developed at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Aspira said that the test will use a blood-based miRNA signature developed at Dana-Farber in combination with the company's proprietary algorithms — and potentially proteins and other factors — to assess ovarian cancer risk. It is expected to be included in Aspira's OvaSuite portfolio of women's health blood tests.
"Diagnosing ovarian cancer at its earliest stages is crucial to improving survival outcomes," Aspira CSO and Chief Operating Officer Ryan Phan said in a statement. "MicroRNA offers tremendous opportunity to make this a reality as it appears earlier compared with other testing targets, like circulating tumor cells or proteins."
Aspira first began evaluating Dana-Farber's miRNA technology in early 2021. The Austin, Texas-based company sponsors research by Dana-Farber and other institutions into the use of circulating miRNAs and proteins for the detection of endometriosis.
Separately, Aspira said Thursday it has executed a 1-for-15 reverse stock split to satisfy a Nasdaq listing requirement.
The split took effect after midnight on Thursday, and starting Friday, Aspira's common stock will trade on a split-adjusted basis. Its board approved the split earlier this week so that the company can regain compliance with the Nasdaq listing requirement of a minimum $1 bid price. The closing bid price for Aspira's shares must be at least $1 for a minimum of 10 consecutive business day before May 29 to meet the requirement, or it could face delisting action by Nasdaq.
In afternoon trading on Thursday, Aspira's shares were down 13 percent at $.26.