NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – OmniSeq and Laboratory Corporation of America have extended their exclusive distribution agreement for OmniSeq's immune profiling and pan-cancer next-generation sequencing tests the companies signed in 2017.
As part of the expanded deal, LabCorp will distribute OmniSeq's Advance and OmniSeq MSI NGS tests. The original deal covered the OmniSeq Comprehensive and Immune Report Card clinical assays.
The OmniSeq Advance test provides genomic and immune profiling information for the therapeutic management of patients with advanced solid tumors who may be eligible for treatment with checkpoint inhibitors or targeted therapy. The OmniSeq MSI NGS test is used with tumor-only formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sample for microsatellite instability results.
Additionally, LabCorp is making an additional investment of an undisclosed amount in OmniSeq, which follows an initial investment it made in OmniSeq's Series B round as part of this original 2017 agreement.
OmniSeq, a molecular diagnostics subsidiary of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, said that proceeds of the additional LabCorp investment will be used to pursue US Food and Drug Administration approval or clearance of its NGS tests, to develop new panels for predicting patient response to immunotherapy, and for expanding its base of test operators.
Under the agreement, OmniSeq's tests are offered exclusively in the US by Integrated Oncology, part of LabCorp's Specialty Testing Group, and internationally to biopharmaceutical customers through LabCorp's drug development business Covance.
"With LabCorp’s continued collaboration and support, we will have the funding to augment the clinical utility of our testing services, and to make the best of precision medicine more readily available to physicians and patients across the US and to biopharmaceutical companies around the globe," OmniSeq CEO Mark Gardner said in a statement.
"Working together, we have brought advanced NGS-based diagnostics to market, supporting more informed clinical decisions for targeted and immuno-oncology therapies," Marcia Eisenberg, chief scientific officer of LabCorp Diagnostics, added. "By combining the clinical trials capabilities of Covance, the single-source lab solutions services of Integrated Oncology, and the testing services of OmniSeq, LabCorp is uniquely positioned to bring precision medicine to oncology patients across the country."
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.