Put It on the Board, 11/13

Create PDF

Illumina to acquire NextBio

Illumina has signed a definitive agreement to acquire clinical and genomic informatics company NextBio, Santa Clara, Calif. NextBio’s platforms aggregate and analyze large quantities of phenotypic and genomic data for research and clinical applications.

“This agreement with NextBio demonstrates Illumina’s unwavering commitment to drive the adoption of sequencing in new markets and vastly improve the genomic information workflow,” Jay Flatley, Illumina president and CEO, said in a statement. Flatley added, “The combination of Illumina’s BaseSpace cloud computing environment for next-generation sequencing with NextBio’s platform for integrating patient data will allow us to deliver solutions that seamlessly integrate the entire workflow from sample to result.”

Qiagen, Clovis to co-develop companion diagnostic

Qiagen has partnered with Clovis Oncology to co-develop and co-commercialize a companion diagnostic test to guide the use of CO-1686, a Clovis Oncology product candidate currently in clinical development. The Clovis drug candidate will initially target an unmet clinical need in patients with EGFR-driven non-small cell lung cancer for whom current EGFR-inhibiting drugs no longer control disease.

The diagnostic will build on Qiagen’s Therascreen EGFR RGQ PCR Kit, which the FDA approved in July as a companion diagnostic for use in the treatment of metastatic NSCLC in patients whose tumors have certain EGFR mutations.

The development plan for the companion diagnostic complements Clovis’ accelerated plan for CO-1686 development by potentially allowing a supplemental premarket approval filing for the diagnostic. Subject to regulatory approvals, Qiagen will be responsible for the global development and commercialization of the companion diagnostic, and Clovis will be responsible for the global development and commercialization of CO-1686.

PDI and Transgenomic team up

PDI and Transgenomic announced last month a long-term collaboration agreement to commercialize a molecular diagnostic test called CardioPredict. It’s a broad-based genetic assay that identifies gene variants that influence the effectiveness and safety of cardiovascular drugs.