NEW YORK – DermTech said this week that it has received a favorable coverage policy from Highmark for its pigmented lesion assay, which measures the expression of two genes. The insurer, along with its Blue-branded affiliates, provides health insurance to approximately 7 million members in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and New York. The agreement brings DermTech’s total covered lives in the US to approximately 133 million, which includes 68 million for Medicare/Medicare Advantage and 65 million among commercial and governmental payors.
T2 Biosystems reported preliminary results this week. For the second quarter, the Lexington, Massachusetts, firm saw revenues of $2 million due entirely to product sales, down from $5.9 million a year ago. The firm said it achieved sepsis test panel revenue of $1.3 million, a 7 percent increase over the prior-year period. It also executed contracts for 11 T2Dx Instruments during the quarter. T2 implemented a restructuring program in May that included a workforce reduction of nearly 30 percent and also recently completed Nasdaq listing compliance.
Cofactor Genomics said this week that Stanford University has joined its PREDAPT (Predicting Immunotherapy Efficacy from Analysis of Pre-treatment Tumor Biopsies) clinical trial evaluating the use of the company's OncoPrism RNA-based immunotherapy predictive diagnostic assay across 11 cancers. There are more than 20 health systems participating in the PREDAPT trial, which is assessing OncoPrism's ability to predict response to immunotherapy in triple-negative breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, gastric, head and neck, kidney, liver, lung, and urothelial cancers.
Bio-Techne said this week that its acquisition of Swiss spatial biology firm Lunaphore for an undisclosed amount is complete. The deal was announced last month. The companies intend to accelerate their spatial biology leadership position in the translational and clinical research markets, Bio-Techne said in a statement. Lunaphore’s portfolio includes the Comet end-to-end spatial biology platform, Spyre antibody panel kits, and Horizon image analysis software, as well as the LabSat automated tissue staining instrument.
Waltham, Massachusetts-based lab automation firm Genie Life Sciences said this week that it has signed an agreement with GC Biotech, a distributor of life sciences automation products located in the Netherlands. Under the strategic partnership, GC Biotech will offer Genie's products to its customers, including Genie LabMate, a liquid-handling robot, and Genie LabOS, a cloud-based software that allows labs to operate several instruments through one platform. Genie's products can be used for applications such as genomics, proteomics, drug discovery and screening, and cell culture, according to the firm.
Thermo Fisher Scientific said this week that its board of directors authorized a quarterly cash dividend of $0.35 per common share, payable on Oct. 13, to shareholders of record as of Sept. 15.
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.