Verici Dx plc announces that it has expanded the scope of its license agreement with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ("Mount Sinai") to include an additional patent filing related to the analysis of gene expression in a blood-based test (liquid biopsy) to predict risk of fibrosis (chronic kidney graft damage) and rejection of the graft. Interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA) is a significant complication in 50-65% of transplants at 12-24 months and a major cause of graft rejection in the first year after transplantation. The development of a product that can predict risk of fibrosis and rejection using the Company's core technological approach would extend Verici Dx's portfolio across the full course of a patient's transplant journey and complement the Company's two in vitro diagnostic assays, Clarava and Tuteva. Clarava is a pre-transplant prognosis test for the risk of early acute rejection, and Tuteva is a post-transplant diagnostic focused upon acute cellular rejection. A further product using this technological approach and focused on risk of fibrosis would support the diagnosis of risk of longer-term graft failure as well. The development of a novel blood-based immune-phenotyping prognostic test for risk of fibrosis fits well with Verici Dx's current laboratory capabilities, instrumentation and expertise. Liquid biopsy also allows for easier deployment in clinical care given the limited population of transplant centres that undertake tissue allograft surveillance biopsies and the lower risk and costs associated with blood-based biopsies. The Company's multi-centre observational clinical study to validate the clinical performance of Clarava and Tuteva will also include patients being assessed for fibrosis for an extended study period beyond the initial end points for the first two products in order to collect data in support of validation for this newly licensed test to predict risk of fibrosis.