China
Medical Technologies, Inc., a China-based advanced in-vitro diagnostic
(“IVD”) company, and Leica Biosystems, a division of Leica Microsystems,
recently announced that they have established a sales, research and
development collaboration to co-develop and market automated FISH kits
to be used on the Leica BOND system. CMED will sell the Automated FISH
Kits in China and Leica will have an option to sell the FISH kits in the
rest of the world.
Under
the collaboration, CMED and Leica Microsystems will jointly develop
automated FISH solutions for tissue sample tests on HER-2, EGFR and
TOP2A on the Leica BOND system, an automated advanced staining platform.
HER-2, EGFR and TOP2A are genes in connection with the targeted cancer
therapy drugs for breast cancer, lung cancer and stomach cancer
patients. Automation of these FISH tests on the Leica BOND system will
enable pathology laboratories and independent service laboratories to
run these diagnostic tests more efficiently and with higher and more
consistent quality. The automation of FISH tests will also help users to
reduce the work load pressure created by increasing test volumes. Both
parties agreed to add further FISH applications into the collaboration
during the term, including for cytology and pre-natal applications.