NEW YORK – Belgian oncology molecular diagnostics firm Biocartis said on Wednesday that it has received a €1.2 million ($1.4 million) grant from the Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO), a Flemish government organization, to develop its GeneFusion assay on the Idylla instrument.
The firm said the GeneFusion assay will include a highly multiplexed panel of established and emerging biomarkers and will be the first RNA-based assay on the Idylla platform using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples.
Biocartis noted that the assay can produce results within three hours and has less than two minutes of hands-on time.
The firm also expects to use the grant to support related research studies on different sample and tumor tissue types, including lung cancer tissue.
"Together with the existing [CE-IVD] Idylla EGFR Mutation test … the [RUO] Idylla GeneFusion Assay is expected to offer our customers' laboratories a comprehensive testing solution for molecular biomarkers in this area, without the need for different instruments, and covering the majority of clinical guideline-recommended biomarkers," Herman Verrelst, CEO of Biocartis, said in a statement.
Biocartis expects to initially launch the GeneFusion Assay for research use only in the first quarter of 2021. The firm also anticipates validating and releasing an in vitro diagnostic version of the test for non-small cell lung cancer.