NEW YORK – Bayer and Thermo Fisher Scientific said Wednesday that they have forged a partnership to jointly develop next-generation sequencing-based companion diagnostic (CDx) assays for Bayer's precision cancer therapies.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to the companies, the CDx tests aim to identify patients who may benefit from Bayer’s therapies by offering "decentralized genomic testing and rapid turnaround time."
They plan to develop the assays using Thermo Fisher’s Oncomine Dx Express Test on the Ion Torrent Genexus Dx sequencing system, which promises to deliver results on a patient’s tumor or liquid biopsy sample in as little as 24 hours.
"The combination of our experience in developing distributable CDx tests with the game-changing turnaround time offered by our Genexus Dx System allows clinical teams to quickly gather results to better understand the impact of these therapies," Garret Hampton, president of clinical next-generation sequencing and oncology at Thermo Fisher, said in a statement. "Pairing this with Bayer’s growing precision oncology portfolio, we are well positioned for the potential to help ensure that eligible patients can be quickly matched with the right treatment."
The Genexus Dx sequencer and the Oncomine Dx Express Test are currently CE-IVD-certified and are only available in countries that accept the CE mark, the companies noted.
Thermo Fisher previously inked a series of other CDx partnerships, including with AstraZeneca to develop a test for the non-small cell lung cancer drug Tagrisso (osimertinib).