November 29, 2023 | Illumina enters a multi-year agreement with Veracyte to develop and offer some of its high-performing molecular tests as decentralized in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests on Illumina’s NextSeq 550Dx next-generation sequencing (NGS) instrument; Boston Scientific Corporation acquires Relievant Medsystems to add to chronic pain portfolio; Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Fabric Genomics collaborate to develop a software solution analysis and clinical reporting of rich genomic data for faster insights to support rapid disease characterization of babies and children with genetic disorders in acute settings; more.
Veracyte has entered into a multi-year agreement with Illumina to develop and offer some of its high-performing molecular tests as decentralized in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests on Illumina’s NextSeq 550Dx next-generation sequencing (NGS) instrument. The agreement is part of Veracyte’s expanded, multi-platform IVD approach, which will also include qPCR and is designed to accelerate the company’s ability to make its tests available to more patients globally. Press release.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Fabric Genomics have collaborated to develop a scalable software solution for the end-to-end analysis and clinical reporting of rich genomic data. The joint solution, which will be commercially available for deployment in CLIA/CAP labs, will support use of nanopore sequencing in neonatal/pediatric intensive care units, bringing the benefits of richer data and faster insights to support rapid disease characterization of babies and children with genetic disorders in acute settings. Press release.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies has also partnered with Saphetor to support the comprehensive analysis of nanopore sequencing data and to enable end-to-end workflows. The collaboration with Saphetor will enable a direct connection between secondary and tertiary analysis, connecting Oxford Nanopore EPI2ME research software with VarSome Clinical, a CE-marked in vitro diagnostic medical device and HIPAA-compliant platform from Saphetor. This will deliver an integrated solution from sample to variant interpretation. Press release.
Boston Scientific Corporation has acquired Relievant Medsystems, a company that offers the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared Intracept Intraosseous Nerve Ablation System, a therapy to treat vertebrogenic pain that is a form of chronic low back pain. The Intracept system, a basivertebral nerve ablation therapy, will be an addition to the Boston Scientific chronic pain portfolio that includes spinal cord stimulation, radiofrequency ablation and an interspinous spacer procedure. The acquisition includes an upfront cash payment of $850 million and undisclosed additional contingent payments based on sales performance over the next three years. Press release.
Paige has teamed up with Nuance to create the largest digital consultation network in pathology. The platform leverages the scale and capabilities of Nuance’s PowerShare image sharing network, together with Paige’s track record and expertise in digital pathology and their leading FDA approved viewer. This collaboration addresses common challenges in external consultations, such as time constraints, glass slide damage risks, and high costs. It connects pathologists with peers and world-class experts, stimulates growth in reference centers' consultation services, and streamlines healthcare operations, ultimately reducing time to diagnosis and costs whenever pathology cases are shared between institutions. Press release.
Evidation announced a landmark partnership with Our Future Health, a national health research initiative and collaboration between the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), public health agencies, non-profits, and leading life sciences companies. Our Future Health will deploy Evidation’s enterprise digital health engagement and measurement platform to conduct a multi-year, longitudinal research program for up to five million participants across the UK. Press release.
ActiGraph introduced its next generation multisensor wearable, the ActiGraph LEAP. The ActiGraph LEAP includes one of the most comprehensive sensor collections in the industry, giving researchers the ability to collect continuous digital measures of physical activity, sleep, mobility, and additional vital sign measures (for investigational use only) in a single fit-for-purpose device. Press release.
Clinical ink has expanded its patient engagement suite with the inclusion of the SPURTM behavioral diagnostic tool created by Observia. This unique integrated solution combines assessment of patient behavior with lifestyle modification, eCOA, eSource, and Digital Biomarkers. It is available for both clinical development and marketed pharmaceutical products. The collaboration with Observia allows Clinical ink to capture a holistic view of patient behavior together with clinical outcomes and digital biomarkers. Behavior and cognition represent a previously neglected dataset, permitting improved adherence to trial protocols and standardization of lifestyle advice in complex chronic indications. Press release.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced the launch of its Institute for Data Science in Oncology (IDSO), which integrates the most advanced computational and data science approaches with the institution’s extensive scientific and clinical expertise to significantly improve patient’s lives by transforming cancer care and research. Through its work, IDSO not only allows for better analysis of existing data but also changes how MD Anderson generates, collects and manages data. This comprehensive approach enables research and clinical teams to derive new and deeper insights that can be applied to accelerate drug discovery and development, to improve scheduling and access for patients, to enhance the safety and quality of care, and to allow for personalized treatment decisions based on results and predictions from diagnostic tests. Press release.
Yourgene Health has installed the first non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) workflow in Morocco based on the IONA test at the Centre de Biologie Riad (Laboriad). By offering this service locally, Laboriad can broaden its offering and provide pregnant women fast, reliable results that reduce the need for invasive tests and the associated stress and anxiety for expectant parents. Press release.
Yourgene Health has also collaborated with Pacific Biosciences to optimize size selection for long-read sequencing workflows. PacBio has qualified Yourgene’s LightBench instrument for size selection of long DNA fragments, enabling high yields for HiFi sequencing data. Press release.
Leica Microsystems has released version 13 of Aivia, its AI image analysis software now provides a toolkit for transforming multiplexed 2D data into spatial insights. With Aivia 13, researchers can unveil spatial insights in tissues, allowing a deeper understanding of the microenvironment surrounding their phenotypes. In addition to handling large multiplexed 2D images, the new version enables researchers to obtain a comprehensive view of large image datasets, with millions of detected objects and unsupervised automatic clustering with up to 30 markers. Aivia 13 also provides a vast array of charts and spatial measurements, allowing for the collection of critical insights. Press release.
ArisGlobal announced new study results confirming the power of Proactive Safety Signal Detection in improving patient safety. Specifically, the findings support the technology's ability to distill precise, meaningful drug-event insights directly and efficiently from real-world data, boosting drug safety—while potentially also supporting new indications. The findings revealed: 42% fewer false positives; 19% more 'true' signals; and a 39% improvement in signal optimization. Press release.
Genomenon announced the first milestone in its journey to curate the human genome with the release of Mastermind 3.0, now including the clinical exome fully curated at the gene level. With this latest launch of its Mastermind Platform, Genomenon is delivering a comprehensive catalog of more than 9,000 gene-disease relationships across 5,500 genes with more being added each week. These curations, based on ClinGen recommendations, are useful to accelerate novel variant curation, especially in large panels, whole exomes (WES), and whole genomes (WGS). The company is the first to curate the clinical exome at the gene level based on ClinGen guidelines. Press release.
Fabric Genomics has entered a strategic collaboration with cloud-based data management pioneer DNAnexus to empower hospitals, clinical laboratories, and academic centers to rapidly access and analyze large-scale clinical whole genome data and bring vital clinical insights to patients. Through the partnership, Fabric Genomics will integrate its advanced genomic analysis tools and AI engine with the DNAnexus Precision Health Cloud, providing users with a push-button solution to move quickly from sample to evidence-backed analysis to actionable clinical reports. Press release.
Generate:Biomedicines and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center announced a strategic collaboration to discover and develop chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T‑cell therapies, and armoring technologies, for up to three oncology targets, including in ovarian cancer and other solid tumors. In ovarian cancer alone, an estimated 314,000 women worldwide are diagnosed and over 200,000 women die each year. Under the collaboration agreement, Generate:Biomedicines and Roswell Park will contribute toward creating optimized cell therapies, where a patient’s T cells are engineered to recognize and kill tumors. Press release.
Annalise.ai has launched Annalise Triage, a solution tailored specifically for the U.S. market. This innovative software will transform the radiology field by empowering radiologists to efficiently triage studies and prioritize those with suspected critical findings, ultimately streamlining their workflow, and supporting faster time-to-diagnosis for urgent conditions. AI-enhanced worklist triaging has been shown to decrease both the time a radiologist needs to read a report, and the time from request until a report is available for critical cases. Press release.
PaxMedica announced the successful acquisition of certain suramin research assets from Rediscovery Life Sciences (RLS). These assets were previously dedicated to the study of suramin's potential efficacy in treating acute kidney injury resulting from chronic kidney disease. The newly acquired data from RLS will play a crucial role in bolstering PaxMedica's ongoing efforts to support the submission for the approval of PAX-101, specifically for the treatment of African Sleeping Sickness caused by the Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense parasite. Press release.
InfoBionic has entered into an agreement with Mayo Clinic to incorporate its extensive know-how in cardiac patient monitoring, AI-ECG, and virtual telemetry to optimize and build upon its existing monitoring platform. The collaboration aims to enhance InfoBionic’s current proprietary AI algorithms and analytics capabilities to provide more personalized and predictive insights to both patients and clinicians. In addition, the agreement will help augment current development efforts in virtual cardiac telemetry to enable a seamless cardiac monitoring continuum of care from hospital to home. Press release.
QIAGEN and Myriad Genetics announced a new master collaboration agreement to develop companion diagnostic tests in the field of cancer. The partnership aims to deliver innovative services and products to pharmaceutical companies, enabling the development and commercialization of proprietary cancer tests for the U.S. clinical market, and providing distributable companion diagnostic test kits for the global market. Press release.
Georgiamune and Verily announced a strategic partnership to advance novel therapeutics for patients with cancer. The partnership aims to deliver innovative services and products to pharmaceutical companies, enabling the development and commercialization of proprietary cancer tests for the U.S. clinical market, and providing distributable companion diagnostic test kits for the global market. Press release.
Metabolon and Genomics England have collaborated to further characterize hundreds of rare diseases to advance the field of rare disease diagnosis. It is hoped this research collaboration between Metabolon and Genomics England will enable the rapid discovery of novel biomarkers for known rare diseases and uncover disease-causing pathways for many unknown rare diseases. The collaboration will generate metabolomic data for over 7,000 participants from the 100,000 Genomes Project, a landmark project led by Genomics England and NHS England, which sequenced 100,000 whole genomes from NHS patients affected by rare conditions and cancer. Press release.