Why Is Cancer Diagnostic Focused Biocept Stock Trading Higher Today?

Biocept Inc BIOC shares are trading higher after the company signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement for CNSide with Plus Therapeutics Inc PSTV, which expands the comprehensive laboratory services agreement between the two companies that was announced in June 2022. 

Benzinga exclusively broke the story. 

Plus Therapeutics is using CNSide in a clinical trial with their targeted radiotherapeutic to treat patients with carcinomas and/or melanomas with suspected leptomeningeal metastases (LM), cancer in the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. 

CNSide is Biocept's proprietary cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-based tumor cell capture and enumeration platform used in detecting, quantifying, and monitoring tumor status in LM.

Plus will pay Biocept an upfront fee of $150,000 in stock, plus $6,000 per CSF tumor cell enumeration analysis performed in Biocept's laboratory before the completion of the technology transfer. 

Once the technology transfer is complete, Plus will pay Biocept $300,000 plus fees on a sliding scale starting at $2,800 for each CNSide test they perform. 

The license agreement also gives Plus the option to negotiate for third-party exclusivity with a $1,000,000 payment to Biocept.

Price Action: BIOC shares are up 83.30% at $1.54 during the premarket session on the last check Friday.