Helomics, a Pittsburgh, PA-headquartered clinical contract research organization (CRO), has partnered with Indivumed, an oncology research company based in Hamburg, Germany.
The partnership – conditions and terms of which were not disclosed – combines Indivumed's cancer database, biobank, and Europe-based research laboratory with Helomics' analytical laboratory services for biospecimen analysis.
The goal of the collaboration is to offer a global precision medicine platform based on the companies’ combined expertise, said Gerald Vardzel, Jr, Helomics’ president and CEO.
“[The platform] will accelerate the goal of generating rich data from high quality biospecimens, which in turn can be used for clinical and translational research in order to build new diagnostics and therapies for cancer,” he told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
“Pharma and diagnostic partners can access a full suite of specimen collection through to analysis and long-term storage on a global scale, together with best-in-class bioinformatics platforms to power clinical trials, biomarker research and validation, drug-repurposing and diagnostics development,” added Mark Collins, Helomics’ vice president of innovation and strategy.
The companies will leverage Helomics’ patient-derived tumor models with Indivumed’s specimen protocols to provide clients with the ability to study in vitro, “how the patient’s own tumor responds to drugs and the specific drivers of that tumor, which is invaluable in precision medicine research,” Collins explained.
Vardzel said the next steps will focus on joint projects with pharma and diagnostic customers.