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 | DTTR March 2010 (Full PDF Issue) |
| TOP OF THE NEWS
Prime time for personalized medicine
SACGHS report on gene patents
BUSINESS NEWS
CancerGuide Diagnostics ramps up
Navigenics raises $18 million
Agilent sells clinical diagnostics business
Top tests paid under Medicare part B
Medco Health Services buys DNA Direct
Myriad teams with MRS
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
Vanderbilt offers CardioDX tes
INSIDE DIAGNOSTICS INDUSTRY
Inside NMS Labs
SPECIAL FOCUS: Personalized Medicine
Genomic Health launches colon cancer test
Genetic links to lung cancer survival
Pfizer collaborating with Qiagen
Clarient introduces lung cancer test
Mapping the cancer genome
Geisinger teams with TGen
Biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis
FINANCIAL NEWS
IVD stocks down 4%
G-2 INSIDER
Sewing up cheaper chip-based tests
Full Article |
| SACGHS Finalizes Recommendations on Gene Patents |
| On Feb. 5, the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS) voted to urge Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius to limit the ability of gene patent holders to keep others from using those genes for diagnostic and research purposes.
Full Article |
| IVD Companies, Labs Expand Personalized Medicine Plays |
| Personalized medicine is proving more than a buzzword as in vitro diagnostics (IVD) companies and clinical laboratories align to launch and implement products designed to aid physicians in offering treatments tailored to individual patients.
Full Article |
| CancerGuide Diagnostics Partners with LabCorp, Looks to Raise $10.5 Million |
| Life science startup CancerGuide Diagnostics (Durham, N.C.) is laying the groundwork for a partnership-based play in the personalized medicine space.
Full Article |
| Navigenics Raises $18 Million from Investors Including P&G |
| With competitor deCODE Genetics still reeling from bankruptcy, personal genomics company Navigenics (Foster City, Calif.) has raised approximately $18 million of funding.
Full Article |
| Vanderbilt Launches CardioDX Test for Coronary Artery Disease |
| Vanderbilt University (Nashville) is the latest institution to offer Corus CAD, a gene expression test that quantifies the likelihood of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). The test is manufactured by CardioDX (Palo Alto, Calif.) and performed exclusively in the company’s CLIA-certified laboratory.
Full Article |
| Agilent Divests Clinical Diagnostics Business Hycor Biomedical |
| Measurement company Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, Calif.) has
sold its clinical diagnostics business to Linden (Chicago), a private equity firm focused on the health care and life science industries.
Full Article |
| With Focus on Clinical Toxicology and Forensic Testing, NMS Labs Succeeds as a ‘Lab’s Lab’ |
| Now in its 40th year, NMS Labs (Willow Grove, Pa.) is a national reference laboratory that focuses on clinical toxicology and forensic testing.
Full Article |
| Special Focus: Personalized Medicine: Genomic Health Introduces Colon Cancer Test |
| Genomic Health (Redwood City, Calif.) has launched its Oncotype DX colon cancer test, a 12-gene test developed for the assessment of risk of recurrence in patients with stage II colon cancer. The laboratory-developed gene expression test is available exclusively through Genomic Health’s CLIA-certified laboratory.
Full Article |
| Special Focus: Personalized Medicine: JAMA Study Finds Genetic Links to Lung Cancer Survival |
| An analysis of genetic and clinical data for nearly 800 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has identified differences in genetic characteristics that are associated with age- and sex-specific patterns of increased or decreased recurrence-free survival. The study appears in the Feb. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Full Article |
| Special Focus: Personalized Medicine: Pfizer and Qiagen to Develop Companion Diagnostic for Brain Tumor Patients |
| Pfizer (New York) and Qiagen subsidiary DxS (Manchester, England) have entered into an agreement to develop a companion diagnostic test kit for an immunotherapy vaccine that Pfizer is developing for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Full Article |
| Special Focus: Personalized Medicine: Clarient Launches IHC Test to Aid in Selection of Lung Cancer Therapy |
| Clarient (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) has launched a laboratory-developed test that helps physicians classify types of lung cancer to identify which therapies may be most effective. Part of Clarient’s new Insight Dx line of tests, Pulmotype is intended for use in subclassifying patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Full Article |
| Special Focus: Personalized Medicine: Researchers Map Genetic Variations Across 26 Cancers |
| A team of researchers has created a genome-scale map of 26 different cancers, revealing more than 100 genomic sites where DNA from tumors is either missing or abnormally duplicated compared to normal tissues. The study, the largest of its kind, appears in the Feb. 18 issue of Nature.
Full Article |
| Special Focus: Personalized Medicine: Geisinger and TGen Partner for Personalized Medicine Initiative |
| Geisinger Health System (Danville, Pa.) and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (Tgen; Phoenix) have entered into a research partnership designed to address gaps in clinical medicine.
Full Article |
| Special Focus: Personalized Medicine: Biomarker Could Help Treatment Selection for Rheumatoid Arthritis |
| A newly discovered biomarker could help physicians identify patients who will best respond to certain therapies for rheumatoid arthritis. The study appears in the February issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Full Article |
| Surgical Pathology Topped $1 Billion in Part B Charges in ’08 |
| Surgical pathology (Level IV, code 88305) continues to rank as the highest-volume pathology procedure paid under Medicare Part B. For the calendar-year 2008, this code had approximately 18 million allowed services and $1.18 billion in allowed Medicare charges—which is three times more than any other single procedure on the top 100 list.
Full Article |
| Medco Health Services Acquires DNA Direct |
| Pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) has acquired DNA Direct (San Francisco), which provides guidance and decision support for genetic testing to patients, providers, payers, and employees. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Full Article |
| Myriad Genetics Inks Deal with Mammography Reporting System to Identify Potential Patients |
| Under a recently announced agreement with Mammography Reporting System (MRS; Seattle), Myriad Genetics (Salt Lake City) will be able to identify more high-risk breast cancer patients—and therefore potential candidates for its BRACAnalysis test—through risk flags incorporated into cancer-tracking software that service 2,400 mammography centers in the United States.
Full Article |
| IVD Stocks Slip 4%; Cepheid, Sequenom Join Index |
| For 2010, the G-2 Diagnostic Stock Index adds molecular diagnostics companies Cepheid (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Sequenom (San Diego). The index is down 4 percent in the five weeks ended Feb. 12, with 14 stocks down in price, three up, and one unchanged. In comparison to the G-2 Index’s 4 percent drop, the Nasdaq and the S&P each lost 6 percent.
Full Article |
| DTTR G2 Insider (March 2010) |
| Will needle and thread sew up cheaper chip-based tests? It’s possible, according to a study published in the Jan. 27 issue of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Full Article |
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