NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Laboratory Corporation of America's Covance drug development business plans to offer single-cell DNA analysis services to its biopharmaceutical customers on Mission Bio's single-cell platform, Tapestri. In addition, the companies plan to evaluate the platform for the development of companion diagnostics, Mission Bio said on Thursday.
The companies did not disclose financial details about the agreement. LabCorp previously invested in Mission Bio as part of its Series B financing round.
"The combination of LabCorp's diagnostics and drug development capabilities makes it the ideal partner to expand our global ecosystem by opening access to the biopharmaceutical industry," Mission Bio CEO Charlie Silver said in a statement. "With this partnership, we can now offer complete support from preclinical and biomarker discovery through to clinical trials and commercialization."
Steve Anderson, chief scientific officer of LabCorp's Covance, said that there is growing interest in identifying residual cancer cells following treatment. "A more sensitive test for minimal residual disease, which is possible through single-cell genomics, has great potential to streamline clinical trials and help providers manage their patients’ care more effectively."
Also on Thursday, Mission Bio said that it had forged an agreement with contract manufacturing organization Argonaut Manufacturing Services, to serve as Mission Bio's "preferred global CMO." It did not disclose details of the agreement.