Biocartis Acquires Philips Technology Platform for Automated DNA/RNA Molecular Diagnostic Testing

The platform has been designed for applications in a wide range of patient sample testing, including oncology and infectious diseases. Financial details of this agreement were not disclosed.

Biocartis will develop and commercialize the platform, together with a menu of tests, through strategic partnerships and will finalize validation of the platform at its newly established and wholly owned Dutch subsidiary Biocartis BV. Biocartis BV is based on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where it will benefit from close access to the multidisciplinary R&D facilities and services of Philips Corporate Technologies.

"This agreement is transformational for Biocartis as it accelerates our plans to bring innovative and cost-effective molecular diagnostic solutions that can turn personalized medicine into practice,” stated Rudi Pauwels, CEO of Biocartis. "From our inception, we have been on a quest to integrate a clinical sample preparation and processing technology to complement our own developments. The platform developed by Philips clearly stood out as an impressive, integrated solution in terms of architecture choices, functionality, flexibility, and bears the signature of a world-class engineering team.”

"We are extremely pleased that in Biocartis we have found a highly innovative and entrepreneurial partner that is committed to bringing a cutting-edge molecular diagnostics platform to market based on advanced technology developed by Philips,” stated Gottfried Dutiné, executive vice president of Philips and global head of markets and innovation. "Biocartis' vision of the future of molecular diagnostics, the technologies they have developed within the space of a few years and the proven track record of its key management in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic sector have convinced us of the value of this agreement.”

Under the terms of the agreement, all platform-related assets, including the relevant Philips patents and technology knowhow, plus a number of existing Philips staff members, will be transferred to Biocartis. Biocartis will finance future developments and be responsible for commercialization of the platform. It will accelerate the development program by leveraging Philips' expertise in product engineering and life science technologies through extensive collaborations.

DNA/RNA molecular diagnostic tests will become increasingly important in providing crucial information on a patient's state of health at every stage of the care cycle--from prevention and early diagnosis to treatment, monitoring and after care. To make effective use of existing and new DNA/RNA biomarkers and to realize fully the potential of personalized medicine, new solutions are needed to make the required tests more widely available. This will be the focus of Biocartis.

At the same time, it will be essential to integrate, analyze, and present all the available patient data in an intelligent way. Philips will focus its research program in this area on the integration of molecular diagnostic information into clinical decision support systems with the objective to help clinicians to arrive at the correct diagnosis and choice of therapy. Through its ongoing technical collaboration with Biocartis, Philips will remain closely involved with technology innovation in this field, contributing to the development of optimized clinical informatics solutions that address the needs of both patients and care providers.

The Philips technology platform for DNA/RNA molecular diagnostic testing is the result of several years of development by the life-science research and applied technology groups within Philips Corporate Technologies. It has been designed for fully integrated, random access, multiplexed DNA/RNA molecular diagnostic testing. The platform is characterized by ease-of-use, which is a prerequisite for making it suitable for all types of laboratory environments.

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