Ambry provides diagnostic exome sequencing
Ambry Genetics is reporting that they are the first laboratory to provide CLIA-approved exome services for applications in clinical diagnostics. After comprehensive review by Ambry’s staff of geneticists and medical directors, these results will allow clinicians to diagnose affected patients with conditions that have eluded traditional diagnostic approaches. The company says that is also launching Clinical Diagnostic Exome sequencing, which marks the first time NextGen sequencing of the exome has been made available on a clinical basis along with clinical interpretation and classification of variant data.
The Clinical Diagnostic Exome provides sequencing of the most important functional regions of the genome that harbor the majority of known disease causing mutations. For patients with undiagnosed or difficult to diagnose genetic disorders, this product is capable of providing clinically relevant answers. Sequencing and interpretation of greater than 50 Mb of sequence per patient is a huge undertaking that relies heavily on the company’s state-of-the-art bioinformatics and sequencing capabilities.
Dilon Diagnostics to distribute SurgicEye products
Dilon Diagnostics has become the exclusive distributor of SurgicEye products in the United States. SurgicEye’s declipseSPECT/CSS300 instrument provides intraoperative 3-D image visualization and navigation for gamma probes during radio-guided surgery. The solution extends commonly used gamma probes and combines imaging and image viewing as a tool to resect radioactively labeled structures like primary breast tumors, metastases, and sentinel lymph nodes in a minimally invasive approach. SurgicEye recently received FDA clearance of its flagship product, the declipseSPECT/CSS300 intraoperative gamma probe 3D visualization device.
Millennium collaborates with MMRF
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) says that it has entered into a multi-year collaboration with Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company to advance the MMRF’s emerging research program in personalized medicine. Both organizations believe the MMRF’s Personalized Medicine Initiative program will enable the biological segmentation of patients and accelerate the development of new, targeted treatments and potentially curative approaches for multiple myeloma. Millennium is the first pharmaceutical company to join MMRF in advancing this new initiative, which is centered on the CoMMpass (Relating Clinical Outcomes in MM to Personal Assessment of Genetic Profile) study. This recently launched 1000-patient longitudinal study will track multiple myeloma patients from initial diagnosis through their course of treatment, accompanied by sequential tissue sampling to identify how a patient’s molecular profile may affect clinical progression and individual response to treatment. –Peter Winter