NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Metamark Genetics and Definiens today announced that they are collaborating on the development and commercialization of a multiplex platform that will run prognostic and predictive assays for early-stage cancers.
The collaboration will combine Metamark's multiplex protein detection platform with image analysis technology that the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm will jointly develop with Munich, Germany-based Definiens. The firms said that Metamark's quantitative diagnostic approach can "identify and account for small regions of molecularly aggressive cancer cells within an otherwise indolent tumor."
Financial and other terms of the alliance were not disclosed.
"The capability to provide detailed readouts from tissue analysis is opening up new gateways for developing diagnostic assays as we enter the age of personalized medicine," Thomas Colarusso, VP of sales and operations for Definiens, said in a statement. "We believe the Definiens Developer XD and Tissue Studio software will enable Metamark to classify tumor heterogeneity of multiplexed tissue stains and derive prognostic and predictive assays."