NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Definiens has partnered with Ultivue to develop immuno-oncology (IO) research offerings that combine their respective multiplexed immunofluorescence (IF) immunohistochemistry and digital image analysis technologies, the companies announced today.
The deal will join Munich-based Definiens' Tissue Phenomics image analysis technologies for biomarker quantification and immunoprofiling with Ultivue's UltiMapper immuno-oncology kits and services. The companies' first products will be based on UltiMapper kit panels for PD-1 and PD-L1, and they plan to later expand to a novel 8-plex IF immuno-oncology panel.
Additional terms were not disclosed.
"The collaboration with Ultivue will enable us to provide IO profiles from a single tissue section, and we can use additional serial sections to investigate other relevant biomarkers," Definiens CEO Thomas Heydler said in a statement. "Analysis of spatial relationships at cellular resolution with IF multiplexing will also add biological depth and context."
In September, Definiens — a subsidiary of AstraZeneca — forged a biomarker discovery alliance with Germany's Merck KGaA. Around that same time, Ultivue and Leica Biosystems agreed to a comarket UltiMapper assays with Leica's Bond Rx research staining platform for research applications.