NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Sequenom said this week that it has completed the consolidation of its North Carolina laboratory operations into its San Diego lab facility. The firm announced its intentions to divest the North Carolina lab in early January as part of an organizational restructuring that will eliminate approximately 20 percent of its workforce. Sequenom expects to record net cash costs of approximately $1 million in the first quarter of 2016 in connection with the divestment and other organizational changes.
It also reaffirmed this week its expectation of achieving in excess of $20 million in annualized operating cost savings by late 2016, related both to the facility consolidation and other initiatives as previously announced.
PerkinElmer and the Genome Institute of Singapore have opened the PerkinElmer-GIS Centre for Precision Oncology. The joint laboratory will develop a high-throughput screening platform to predict therapeutic sensitivity in next-generation patient-derived tumor models in real-time, the partners said. They added in a statement that the platform "will utilize sequence-informed studies and HTS/HCS focused compound library screens to test the efficacy of different standard of care and pathway-specific inhibitors in 3D tumor micro-spheroid culture models derived either directly from patient primary tumors or patient-derived models."
Interleukin Genetics has signed an agreement with Reimbursement Specialists to include coverage of the firm's PerioPredict Genetic Risk Test as part of the benefit management services firm's Freedom Dental Plan. PerioPredict is a test to identify individuals at increased risk for severe periodontitis due to a genetic tendency to over-produce chronic inflammation and is offered through the firm's CLIA lab.
Taipei-based ACT Genomics said this week that it has received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists. The firm provides next-gen sequencing-based tumor profiling services.
Helomics this week said that it will restructure its R&D, operations, and sales and marketing to refocus its efforts on the central buying and decision-making processes of Medicare, commercial payors, and hospital systems. It added that its clinical products business will also be restructured into a new division focused on advanced lab developed tests and preparation for products in the FDA-regulated diagnostics market "as regulatory oversight begins to shift in the personalized medicine marketplace." Helomics also said that it reduced its workforce, but the privately held Pittsburgh-based firm didn't provide additional details.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on the GenomeWeb site.