Aptorum Soars 800% On Diagnostic Testing Launch

Aptorum Group Ltd APM shares are skyrocketing Tuesday following an announcement concerning the setting up of a subsidiary focused on diagnostic testing.

What Happened: U.K.-based Aptorum that focuses on developing therapies primarily for infectious diseases and cancer said it's launching Aptorum Innovations, an infectious liquid biopsy diagnostics subsidiary.

The subsidiary will target the global molecular diagnostics market estimated to reach $13.8 billion by 2025, with 60% of it attributable to the infectious disease segment.

The company also announced an exclusive in-licensing agreement with Accelerate Technologies Pte Ltd, which is the commercialization arm of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research, to co-develop novel molecular-based rapid pathogen identification and detection diagnostics, or RPIDD, technology.

Related Link: The Week Ahead In Biotech: FDA Decisions For Mesoblast And Eton, Coronavirus Vaccine Updates

The RPIDD tech is aimed at rapidly and accurately identifying existing or emerging unknown pathogens, including DNA/RNA-based viruses such as coronavirus, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, fungi, etc., in a cost-effective manner, through liquid biopsy, genome sequencing and artificial intelligence-driven software analytics, Aptorum said.

The newly set up Aptorum Innovations will be the exclusive licensee and commercializing party for the RPIDD technology, the company said.

What's Next: Aptorum said it intends to open RPIDD-driven infectious disease liquid biopsy diagnostics laboratories over the course of the next two years in Singapore, U.S., U.K., and the European Union. This is contingent on further validation and optimization of the RPIDD technology.

Aptorum shares were surging higher by 860% to $11.80.