NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Synlab Pharma said today that it has signed a collaboration agreement with Biotype to offer a Europe-wide clinical trial service for microsatellite instability and DNA polymerase epsilon/polymerase delta 1 mutation detection using Biotype's Modaplex technology.
The partners aim to identify patients with gastrointestinal or endometrial cancers who may potentially benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, and as part of the agreement, the team will verify the tests according to CAP or CLIA guidelines to immediately allow groups to use the test in clinical trials. According to Synlab, a subsidiary of Synlab Holding Deutschland,  the team will initially offer the service at its headquarter in München, Germany.
Biotype's Modaplex technology is a PCR "load-and-go-away" benchtop system that the firm said allows researchers to detect all types of genetic abnormalities within three and a half hours.
"Our desire is that through this collaboration more pharmaceutical companies and CROs will gain access to a multicenter laboratory service which is .. as comfortable as planning and performing a single center study," Martin Roskos, Synlab Holding Deutschland's chief medical officer, said in a statement.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Synlab and Biotype said that today's agreement is "just the beginning of the further cooperation of molecular multianalyte testing services on the Modaplex platform."