NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Curetis announced today that it has signed collaboration and commercialization deals with BGI Group subsidiary MGI to combine their technologies for next-generation sequencing-based infectious disease testing.
The firms said they plan to combine Curetis' Unyvero Lysator-based sample preparation technology and MGI's NGS to create a fully automated workflow that allows for the processing of any type of native clinical sample, with the subsequent NGS-based detection of microbial pathogens and genetic markers for antibiotic resistance.
Under the terms of the agreement, MGI will reimburse Curetis for supporting the workflow integration and transferring the technology, and will pay technology access fees, a transfer price on OEM hardware and consumables, and royalties on product sales.
Further financial terms were not disclosed.
Curetis and MGI also expect to further implement the plan they established in an memorandum of understanding they signed last September, in which they agreed to develop a targeted NGS assay for microbial infections based on the genetic antibiotic resistance and susceptibility technology platform and database from Curetis subsidiary Ares Genetics.
"We believe our customers will greatly benefit from the Curetis Unyvero sample preparation technology as it provides a solution that works with any clinical sample to make NGS-based molecular pathogen identification and genetic resistance profiling even faster and easier," MGI CEO and Managing Director Feng Mu said in a statement.
In addition, the partners are examining potential commercial collaboration to accelerate market development and commercialization of NGS-based molecular microbiology offerings in Europe and China.