GE Healthcare to Collaborate with
GlaxoSmithKline on Commercial Oncology Testing
GE Healthcare today announced an agreement between its affiliate,
Clarient Diagnostic Services, Inc. (Clarient) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The
collaboration aims to improve access to diagnostic testing for cancer patients
by establishing a network of clinical laboratories to identify genetic
mutations associated with different tumour types. The collaboration will enable
GE to develop a broader laboratory and data analytics service that will enable
better efficiency in the healthcare market related to oncology precision
medicine. This will be made available as a subscription-based service and
operated by GE Healthcare.
“Our arrangement with GSK will enable us to leverage our clinical,
technical and quality management expertise to credential laboratory partners
worldwide,” said Cindy Collins, CEO, Clarient. “This global network of high
quality diagnostic capability can be leveraged with confidence by all
pharmaceutical companies in search of rigorously standardized oncology
diagnostic services and data.”
Under terms of the agreement with GSK, GE Healthcare, through its
Clarient affiliate, will initially use its clinical laboratory, pathology and
genomics expertise, to certify laboratories and generate diagnostic data on
metastatic melanoma patients. The first Clarient certified laboratories to
initiate this work, are expected to be operational in several countries in
early 2015.
Laboratory testing will initially focus on more than 70 mutations
relevant to melanoma, including BRAF V600E and V600K, with the opportunity to
expand testing beyond melanoma into other tumor types, as the network of
clinical laboratories develops.
“Through this agreement, we hope to better address the variability in
access and quality of diagnostic testing which is a common problem seen with
targeted oncology therapies and related companion diagnostics globally” said
Jonathan Pan, Head of Oncology Companion Diagnostics and Disease Strategy, GSK.
“The commercial testing infrastructure created through this collaboration will
enable advanced diagnostic solutions that should improve how patient care is
delivered, where the certified laboratories are operational.”
Clarient’s laboratory and data analytics service will be available to
other healthcare organizations worldwide through a subscription service, which
is expected to be available next year. The laboratory service, which is
standardized, will enable pharmaceutical and other healthcare organizations to
have the ability to offer diagnostic testing in any market where Clarient
certified laboratories exist. The data analytics service can also provide
customizable insights and its possible uses include geospatial analysis,
provision of aggregated epidemiological data and the identification and
matching of potential patients to clinical trials.
As a leading oncology diagnostic laboratory, Clarient uses innovative
and leading diagnostics technologies combined with world-class pathology
expertise to assess and characterize cancer in order to provide the most
advanced oncology testing and diagnostic services for better patient care.
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