NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – CompanionDx, a high-complexity CLIA-certified laboratory, announced on Monday that it will expand its next-generation sequencing (NGS) offerings with two of Thermo Fisher Scientific cancer assays.
CompanionDx said it will provide the Oncomine Focus Assay and the Oncomine Comprehensive Assay to clients performing studies across a range of different cancer types. The deal creates new NGS services that could be used in combination with pharmacogenomics to facilitate drug development and clinical research program by drug manufacturers, CompanionDx said.
Both assays are based on Thermo Fisher's Ion AmpliSeq technology, and allow for the detection of single nucleotide somatic changes, inversions, insertions, and deletions, as well as gene fusions and copy number variations, CompanionDx said.
The Oncomine Focus is designed for translational and clinical research, and includes 52 solid tumor genes associated with existing cancer drugs and published data, the company added. The Oncomine Comprehensive enables analysis of a broader set of genes deemed relevant to published clinical trials.
"The Oncomine Focus and Oncomine Comprehensive Assays offer powerful NGS-based solutions for detection of relevant genes in a simplified workflow," Mike Nolan, vice president and general manager of oncology for Thermo Fisher, said in a statement. He added that in combination with Thermo Fisher's Applied Biosystems real-time pharmacogenomics solution, "these sophisticated tools further expand the capability of labs aiming to assist drug development research."
CompanionDx said it expects to make NGS services incorporating the assays available by the end of the second quarter.