Now that next-generation DNA sequencing is fast enough, cheap enough and commercially available, the next challenging for innovators is finding ways to effectively apply it to everyday medicine outside of the research lab.
Mayo Clinic and personalized medicine firm Cancer Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ:CGIX) have formed a new company to do just that. OncoSpire Genomics, announced today, will discover and commercialize diagnostic products using next-generation DNA sequencing, starting in cancer.
OncoSpire will leverage clinical and research expertise from the Biomarker Discovery Program at Mayo’s Center for Individualized Medicine along with operating capital and commercial expertise from Cancer Genetics, a reference lab that offers products and services to enable development of cancer diagnostics and personalized treatments. Initially, it will focus on developing diagnostics for hematological and urogenital cancers.
The joint venture is another example of how hospitals, in search of fresh revenue streams, are increasingly turning to partners to commercialize the innovation they’re doing in-house. Mayo, in fact, has done this before in the form of mRemedy, a mobile health company created with DoApp Inc. to provide a patient engagement app.
Mayo also made a push to improve its approach to genome interpretation earlier this year when it initiated a strategic partnership with California diagnostics company Silicon Valley Biosystems.
The hospital and publicly traded Cancer Genetics will have equal ownership of the new Rochester-based venture, but other financial details were not disclosed.
Cancer Genetics CEO Panna Sharma said in a statement that the company wanted to work with Mayo because of its talented clinicians and thought leaders, who would help driving clinical value and adoption of products developed by OncoSpire. “We expect this will add value to our commercial offerings as next-generation sequencing becomes more widely accepted by the clinical community.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
[Photo from Flickr user andylepp]
