NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Horizon Discovery today announced it has signed an OEM agreement to sell its Horizon Diagnostics reference materials alongside ArcherDx's Archer FusionPlex ALK fusion assays, to aid customer validation of the kits.
Horizon said that its HDx reference materials offer a high-quality, sustainable source of independent external controls to laboratories and manufacturers, and include standards for the increasing number of rare mutations being targeted for cancer therapeutics.
ALK fusions of the genetic markers ALK, RET, and ROS1 are an important clinical markers for non-small cell lung cancer.
"The low incidence rates of these mutations make it difficult for laboratories to find renewable sources of controls," ArcherDx CEO Jason Myers said in a statement. "By combining HDx reference material with the Archer panel, we are able to offer a method to ensure consistency and accuracy.”
FusionPlex ALK assays identify both known and previously unidentified fusions and mutations of human ALK, RET and ROS1 genes from tumor samples and can run on both Illumina and Thermo Fisher Scientific Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing platforms.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
This month, Horizon Discovery signed an agreement with Cancer Research UK to provide genomic reference materials for its Stratified Medicine Programme.