NEW YORK – Veracyte said this week that it has closed its previously announced acquisition of C2i Genomics, adding whole-genome minimal residual disease capabilities to its diagnostics platform. The firm purchased C2i for $70 million, paid for with 2.7 million Veracyte shares. It may pay an additional $25 million in Veracyte shares or cash based on milestones achieved over the next two years. Veracyte's first application of C2i's technology will be a muscle-invasive bladder cancer MRD test, to be followed by additional MRD tests in its focus indications.
Nabsys said this week that Hitachi High-Tech America (HTA) plans to obtain 50 Nabsys OhmX electronic genome mapping instruments. The companies will make these instruments available to researchers under a program called RAMP UP (Rapid Application to Market Penetration User Partnerships), targeting applications in cancer research, rare disease, cell and gene therapy, and functional genomics. Nabsys announced the OhmX platform in October 2023 and has made it available to several early-access customers since then. Hitachi High-Tech is an investor in Nabsys, most recently providing $13 million in funding in 2022.
Novacyt said this week that Inex Innovate has decided it will no longer acquire Yourgene Health Taiwan, a deal originally announced last June. As a result, the Taiwanese laboratory business will remain part of Novacyt, which acquired Yourgene Health in September 2023.
Azenta this week reported a 13 percent year-over-year drop in revenues for its fiscal first quarter. Revenues from continuing operations for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023, totaled $154 million, down from $178 million in the year-ago quarter.
Multiomics contributed $63 million to revenues, up 3 percent from $61 million a year ago and up 2 percent organically. Growth in multiomics was primarily driven by gene synthesis and next-generation sequencing services, which were partially offset by a year-over-year drop in Sanger sequencing revenue. Sample management solutions revenues were $79 million in the quarter, down from $75 million, and B Medical Systems revenues were $13 million, down from $42 million.
Azenta's net loss for the quarter was $15.7 million, or $.28 per share, compared to a net loss of $11.2 million, or $.15 per share, a year ago. The company, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, ended the quarter with $702.9 million in cash and cash equivalents and $281.2 million in short-term marketable securities.
Separately, Azenta said this week that it will open its new Genewiz Multiomics and Synthesis Solutions laboratory in Oxford, UK, in March. The lab will offer researchers next-generation sequencing services on "the latest" NGS platforms including RNA/DNA extraction, library preparation, sequencing, and bioinformatics analysis.
The Parkinson's Foundation said this week that Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP), under its Global Parkinson's Genetics Program (GP2), has awarded the foundation a grant of undisclosed size to expand its international genetics study. The study, named PD GENEration: Mapping the Future of Parkinson's Disease, provides genetic testing and counseling to patients with the disease. The new funding will allow the foundation to focus on patients who have been historically underrepresented in research through improved outreach to diverse communities in the US, Canada, and countries in Latin and South America. In addition, the foundation will move to whole-genome sequencing and share research data with the Accelerating Medicines Partnership Parkinson's Disease (AMP PD) portal, a public-private partnership of the National Institutes of Health, biopharmaceutical and life science companies, and nonprofit organizations. The PD GENEration study, launched in 2019, is expected to start expanding this spring.
Sophia Genetics this week said it is expanding a 2022 program partnered with AstraZeneca to provide local testing for homologous recombination deficiency in Spain. The original agreement deployed HRD testing to five laboratories. Under the expanded deal, HRD testing will be available to more laboratories with increased volume and speed of next-generation sequencing and tumor profiling.
Mainz Biomed this week announced that it is opening the European Oncology Lab, an expansion of its partnership with Laboratory Dr. Buhlmann in Germany. Physicians and patients can now order the firm’s ColoAlert assay for colorectal cancer directly from Mainz as a laboratory medical service, which meets a "crucial requirement to invoice private health insurance companies," Mainz said in a statement. The ability to invoice the company’s test as a laboratory medical service "opens a new revenue growth opportunity in addition to our established commercial sales channels," Mainz Chief Commercial Officer Darin Leigh said in a statement.
Lucid Diagnostics this week said it has signed a contract with the World Trade Center Health Program to provide Lucid's EsoGuard Esophageal DNA test for esophageal precancer testing as a covered benefit for more than 120,000 first responders and other survivors who participate in the program for the monitoring and treatment of people affected by the 9/11 World Trade Center attack. EsoGuard tests are reimbursable at $2,475.81 each when prescribed by clinicians at the program's clinical centers of excellence.
MGI Tech said this week that it has signed a sales agreement with ADK Trading and Shipping, a subsidiary of ADK Group. Under the deal, ADK will install the DNBSeq-G99 sequencer, the MGISP-100 sample prep system, and the bioinformatics analysis accelerator Megabolt at ADK Hospital in the Maldives.
Bioinformatics firm Golden Helix said this week that it has received ISO 13485:2016 certification from Tüv Süd. ISO 13485 is an international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system for organizations involved in the design, development, product, and servicing of medical devices. The company said that to be certified, it had to maintain a quality management system, demonstrate sufficient risk management, show consistent tracking of customer satisfaction and safety in the market, and demonstrate continued improvement efforts for its products and system.
AgeCurve this week said it has secured a £250,000 ($315,200) investment from an undisclosed investor to further the development of its technology for assessing biological age. The company tracks single-cell somatic mutations to measure biological age through genome instability, with the goal of building tools that can be used to predict life expectancy as well as morbidity and mortality.
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.