Metamark Genetics Partners with Definiens on Tissue-Based Cancer Diagnostics
Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.
Metamark Genetics and Definiens have announced a development and commercialization partnership in which Metamark will combine its proprietary multiplex protein detection platform with image analysis technology developed jointly with Definiens to deliver innovative prognostic and predictive assays for early-stage cancers.
“Definiens is a clear world leader in quantitative digital pathology and in the analysis of biomarkers in tissue image data,” said Eric Devroe, Ph.D, Vice President of Business & Strategy Development for Metamark.
Devroe continued, “We see great synergy in combining Definiens’ technology and expertise with Metamark’s unique understanding of tumor heterogeneity and insight into the molecular drivers regulating tumor formation and aggression. We believe that this partnership will enable us to co-develop and implement unique and important image analysis tools.”
Metamark’s quantitative diagnostic approach can identify and account for small regions of molecularly aggressive cancer cells within an otherwise indolent tumor.
The company is developing a portfolio of prognostic and predictive assays with the ability to address the “heterogeneous” nature of tumors not only between one patient and the next, but also within an individual patient’s tumor.
Definiens has made ground-breaking achievements in the field of biomarker development based on its highly robust and scalable image analysis framework that enables scientists and clinicians to rapidly extract comprehensive biomarker and morphology expression profiles and to identify a relevant subset of descriptors by correlating them against patient outcomes.
“Definiens is pleased to partner with Metamark Genetics, and to incorporate our image and data analysis software technology into Metamark’s pioneering Oncology diagnostic offerings,” said Thomas Colarusso, Vice President of Sales & Operations for Definiens Inc.
Colarusso continued, “The capability to provide detailed readouts from tissue analysis is opening up new gateways for developing diagnostic assays as we enter the age of personalized medicine. We believe the Definiens Developer XD and Tissue Studio software will enable Metamark to classify tumor heterogeneity of multiplexed tissue stains and derive prognostic and predictive assays.”
