Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

CareDx to Buy Transplant Dx Firm ImmuMetrix

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – CareDx, formerly called XDx, said late Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to acquire transplant diagnostic company ImmuMetrix for an undisclosed amount.

A development stage firm based in Palo Alto, Calif., ImmuMetrix was co-founded by Stephen Quake and Dan Seligson and has R&D programs and intellectual property in cell-free DNA, CareDx said. It added that ImmuMetrix has "pioneered contributions" in fields including single-cell gene expression, genome sequencing, non-invasive tests for heart transplant rejection, and approaches to sequencing and analyzing an individual's immune system.

According to ImmuMetrix's website, the company has an R&D program directed at cancer, transplantation, allergies, vaccine, autoimmunity, and asthma, and it has developed assays for immune repertoire profiling.

"We believe that this acquisition will further strengthen our position in organ transplant surveillance for both our current indication in heart with AlloMap and with other organs in our pipeline," CareDx President and CEO Peter Maag said in a statement.

AlloMap measures the expression levels of 20 genes from a blood sample and provides clinicians a tool for evaluating a patient's risk for a heart transplant rejection. The company launched the test in 2005, and the US Food and Drug Administration approved the test three years later.

"The combination of innovative cell-free DNA technology from ImmuMetrix, with the strong commercial channel provided by CareDx, will result in a new generation of diagnostic products to improve the care and treatment of transplant patients," Stephen Fodor, a board member of ImmuMetrix, said.

The Scan

Cell Signaling Pathway Identified as Metastasis Suppressor

A new study in Nature homes in on the STING pathway as a suppressor of metastasis in a mouse model of lung cancer.

Using Bees to Gain Insights into Urban Microbiomes

As bees buzz around, they pick up debris that provides insight into the metagenome of their surroundings, researchers report in Environmental Microbiome.

Age, Genetic Risk Tied to Blood Lipid Changes in New Study

A study appearing in JAMA Network Open suggests strategies to address high lipid levels should focus on individuals with high genetic risk and at specific ages.

Study Examines Insights Gained by Adjunct Trio RNA Sequencing in Complex Pediatric Disease Cases

Researchers in AJHG explore the diagnostic utility of adding parent-child RNA-seq to genome sequencing in dozens of families with complex, undiagnosed genetic disease.