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In Brief This Week: LumiraDx, Natera, Caris Life Sciences

NEW YORK –  LumiraDx this week priced its public offering of 43 million common shares at $1.75 per share for gross proceeds of about $75.3 million. The company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 6.45 million common shares at the public offering price. Goldman Sachs, Evercore ISI, SVB Securities, and Raymond James are the joint book-running managers for the offering, which is expected to close on July 25. 


Natera said this week that its Signatera assay has met the coverage requirements for patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ MolDx program, effective April 19, 2022. The test is covered under the program’s local coverage determination for minimal residual disease testing for cancer, which went into effect in December 2021. Signatera is also covered by Medicare for colorectal cancer and pan-cancer immunotherapy monitoring. 


Caris Life Sciences said this week that the Northside Hospital Cancer Institute has joined its Precision Oncology Alliance, a growing network of cancer centers that collaborate to advance precision oncology and biomarker-driven research. NHCI has been offering cancer care services in Georgia since 1978. It has one of the largest community-based oncology research networks in the nation and is one of a small number of community cancer care programs offering Phase I-IV clinical trials. Northside also leads Georgia's National Cancer Institute Oncology Research Program and is one of 15 US biorepositories for the National Institute of Health's Cancer Moonshot Biobank Program. 

Caris' POA currently includes 69 cancer centers and academic institutions, which receive early access to the firm's database and artificial intelligence platform. 


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. 

The Scan

Machine Learning Helps ID Molecular Mechanisms of Pancreatic Islet Beta Cell Subtypes in Type 2 Diabetes

The approach helps overcome limitations of previous studies that had investigated the molecular mechanisms of pancreatic islet beta cells, the authors write in their Nature Genetics paper.

Culture-Based Methods, Shotgun Sequencing Reveal Transmission of Bifidobacterium Strains From Mothers to Infants

In a Nature Communications study, culture-based approaches along with shotgun sequencing give a better picture of the microbial strains transmitted from mothers to infants.

Microbial Communities Can Help Trees Adapt to Changing Climates

Tree seedlings that were inoculated with microbes from dry, warm, or cold sites could better survive drought, heat, and cold stress, according to a study in Science.

A Combination of Genetics and Environment Causes Cleft Lip

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers investigate what combination of genetic and environmental factors come into play to cause cleft lip/palate.