Proteomics International Laboratories Ltd (ASX:PIQ) has seen its share price plunge more than 20% on news that it has ended its exclusive agreement with Sonic Healthcare USA relating to the use and commercialisation of PromarkerD – its predictive test for diabetic kidney disease.

At 12:27 AEST, shares in PIQ were trading at 69.5 cents – a fall of 20.11% since the market opened.

Proteomics entered into the exclusive licence with Sonic in May 2023, and said its decision to terminate this was due to failures in the achievement of milestones and key performance indicators which had been stipulated as necessary for commercialisation to happen.

On this basis, Proteomics issued a notice of termination, which took effect on September 10.

In its statement to the market, the company stressed that this decision now opened the door for it to enter licencing agreements with other US-based parties for PromarkerD.

Further boosting this, the product’s assay was recently established in the USA ina third party CLIA certified reference laboratory as a way to demonstrate further clinical applications of PromarkerD.

This achievement will also aid Proteomics’ plan to launch PromarketD on the US market in 2025, in particular through the use of two Go-to-Market strategies – namely licensing to alternative pathology laboratories and service providers, and the direct to consumer/patient strategy.

As well as facilitating testing for diabetic kidney disease, PromarkerD also reveals information about future kidney function decline (up to four years in advance) in patients with type 2 diabetes, and it has been assessed through numerous peer-reviewed clinical studies.