Roche, GE to Develop Integrated Digital Diagnostics for Oncology, Critical Care Treatment

NEW YORK (360Dx) – Roche said today that it has entered a strategic, long-term partnership with GE Healthcare to jointly develop and comarket digital clinical decision support solutions.

The firm said that the partnership will focus first on developing products that accelerate and improve individualized treatment options for cancer and critical care patients.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The partners will apply advanced analytics to in vivo data from GE's medical imaging and monitoring equipment and to in vitro data from Roche's biomarker, tissue pathology, genomics, and sequencing portfolio.

Roche Diagnostics CEO Roland Diggelmann said in a statement that the goal of the partnership is "to support clinicians and other relevant stakeholders for the benefit of patients by providing the right decision support at the right time and through comprehensive digital offerings."

The two companies are aiming to develop a digital platform that uses advanced analytics to provide workflow solutions and apps that support clinical decisions, Roche said, adding that this would enable "the seamless integration and analysis of in vivo and in vitro data, patient records, medical best practice, real time monitoring, and the latest research outcomes."

Clinicians will have "the comprehensive decision support" for providing the right treatment and quality of care for their patients, Roche said. Oncology care teams with multiple specialists would be able to review a comprehensive data dashboard, and collaborate and align on treatment decisions for cancer patients at each stage of their disease.

Roche also noted that in the critical care setting, data from patients' hospital monitoring equipment will be integrated with their biomarker, genomic, and sequencing data, helping physicians to identify, or even predict severe complications before they happen.

"This is the first time that two major players in healthcare have combined digital, in vivo and in vitro diagnostics to this degree," added GE Healthcare President and CEO Kieran Murphy.