NEW YORK – Todos Medical said this week that it has entered into a sales agreement worth almost $1.3 million to supply a Texas-based laboratory with SARS-CoV-2 PCR-based testing equipment and supplies. The company said that it will supply automated extraction machines and liquid handlers along with PCR-test machines over eight months through an initial contract. Todos has also been granted a priority right to supply the lab with up to 75,000 SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests per day in the event the lab experiences significant additional testing demand.
Curiosity Diagnostics, a Scope Fluidics company, said this week that it has signed an agreement with the Laboratory of Virology of the Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland to assess the clinical effectiveness of the PCR One system SARS-CoV-2 panel under the Emergency Use Authorization of the US Food and Drug Administration. Led by Jagiellonian University researcher Krzysztof Pyrc, the partners are aiming to compare the results of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing of hospital patients using the PCR One molecular diagnostics system with the reference diagnostic method used in the laboratories where testing occurs. The choice of reference method, clinical sampling, and analysis will be carried out in accordance with FDA recommendations and relevant ethical, legal, and scientific regulations and standards, Scope Fluidics said. The company plans to complete the tests and obtain FDA EUA in the fourth quarter of this year.
Hologic this week announced that it has acquired Acessa Health for approximately $80 million in cash and contingency payments based on future revenue growth. Privately held Texas-based Acessa Health markets the Acessa ProVu system, a laparoscopic system that combines radiofrequency ablation with advanced intra-abdominal ultrasound visualization and guidance mapping, enabling physicians to treat women with symptomatic, benign uterine fibroids.
Hologic noted that the acquisition will strengthen its position in the gynecological surgery space and will broaden its portfolio of fibroid treatments. Clinical studies have shown that the Acessa ProVu system is a safe and minimally invasive alternative to hysterectomy and myomectomy, the firm added.
Indivumed and Gnosis this week announced the expansion of their partnership to expand artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities available in the IndivuType database. The companies' original deal, signed in May 2019, gave Indivumed access to JAD Bio, Gnosis' software tool that specializes in predictive analytics and is specifically designed to deal with the complexity and magnitude of multi-omics data. The expansion of the partnership will give Indivumed exclusive access to additional AI and machine learning tools for IndivuType's rapidly growing analytics service portfolio, especially in the area of image analysis for predictive and prognostic biosignature discovery.
Caris Life Sciences said this week that Penn State Cancer Institute has joined Caris' Precision Oncology Alliance, a collaborative network of cancer centers that demonstrate a commitment to precision medicine. Through the Precision Oncology Alliance, Penn State Cancer Institute will partner with other notable cancer centers and academic institutions to broaden patient access to precision cancer care, have early access to Caris MAI (Molecular Artificial Intelligence) offerings, and establish evidence-based standards for cancer profiling and molecular testing in oncology.
The Alliance comprises more than 40 academic, hospital, and community-based cancer institutions across the US, including 14 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Caris said. Alliance members have access to the Caris Pharmatech oncology trial network, which can help reduce the time it takes to identify and connect patients with novel targeted cancer therapies that are in clinical development.
Proscia said this week that it is collaborating with Netherlands-based University Medical Center Utrecht to establish a Center of Excellence for the use of computational pathology in clinical practice. Proscia said the Center of Excellence will validate the efficacy of its artificial intelligence applications and enable them to be deployed into high-throughput pathology workflows to drive quality and efficiency gains.
Delivering computational pathology applications for high-throughput laboratory settings requires massive amounts of data and rigorous validation to ensure that pathologists can overcome pre-analytical variability seen in practice. Through the collaboration with UMC Utrecht, Proscia will build a large de-identified data set for pathology research. The partners will also generate clinical and economic evidence to demonstrate the capacity of Proscia’s AI applications to achieve their intended purposes across multiple laboratory settings.
SQI Diagnostics this week reported a sharp year-over-year drop in its fiscal third quarter revenues to C$296,000 ($225,478) from $540,000 in Q3 2019. The Toronto-based diagnostics firm narrowed its net loss to C$1.5 million, or C$.01 per share, from C$1.9 million, or C$.01 per share, for the same period last year. As of June 30, the firm held C$4.3 million in cash.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on GenomeWeb.