Vivione Biosciences Inc. announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with AriBio Inc. This strategic alliance is anticipated to combine the strengths of Vivione in the areas of rapid diagnostics and its new in silico compound modeling technology ('Molecular Design') with AriBio's substantial experience in drug design and testing. The alliance also initiates collaborative development efforts on Vivione's retail food freshness indicator currently branded as FQI ('Food Quality Indicator'). Building on the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement that was signed with the FDA last year, this partnership marks another milestone for Vivione as being its first prospective alliance with a drug development company.

The alliance could benefit AriBio by accelerating the drug development process via specific Vivione intellectual property, Molecular Design, which has the potential to enable accurate computer modeling of the efficacy and potential toxicities of compounds. Vivione expects the alliance will expand their food safety footprint beyond the frontline product, the RAPID-B diagnostic platform, and into companion clinical diagnostics with the potential for growth opportunities in the Asian market. The MOU will also position AriBio as an end user of other various Vivione technologies and as a distributor within Asia.

AriBio will garner early visibility and access to Vivione's RAPID-B diagnostic platform, Molecular Design and Food Quality Indicator product lines, while offering AriBio a first-mover competitive advantage in the rapid diagnostic industry. One of the most exciting collaborations under the MOU is for Vivione and AriBio to jointly investigate new uses of Vivione's Molecular Design to ensure applications are compliant with local regulatory requirements while adopting global industry best practice.