Bio-Rad Announces Collaboration Agreement With Oncocyte To Commercialize Transplant Monitoring With Droplet Digital PCR

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO and BIO.B) announced a collaboration agreement with Oncocyte Corporation (Nasdaq: OCX), a precision diagnostics company, to develop and commercialize transplant monitoring products using Bio-Rad’s Droplet Digital™ PCR (ddPCR™) instruments and reagents.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bio-Rad has committed to participate in a private placement of Oncocyte’s equity and has secured exclusive commercial rights in certain markets to commercialize Oncocyte’s assay for transplant monitoring research using Bio-Rad’s QX600™ ddPCR System.

Transplanted organs release cell-free DNA into the bloodstream of the recipient. This donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA¹) is a sensitive biomarker for organ health that requires only a simple blood draw. The novel approach developed by the team at Oncocyte allows the assay to be applied to clinical research of both recent and non-recent transplants. The utility of the ddPCR-based approach has been well demonstrated, including in a prospective, observational, multicenter cohort trial published in 2017, which showed earlier and more sensitive discrimination of liver transplant patients with acute rejection, compared to conventional liver functional test methods².

Oncocyte’s transplant monitoring assays and the Bio-Rad QX600 ddPCR System provide a highly sensitive and decentralized solution that could provide a more attractive alternative for laboratories that currently rely on centralized next-generation sequencing (NGS) test providers.

Commenting on the collaboration, Simon May, EVP and President of Life Sciences at Bio-Rad Laboratories, stated: “This collaboration advances Bio-Rad’s strategy to establish Droplet Digital PCR as a foundational technology by providing researchers and laboratories with high-value assays across a variety of life science applications. We believe that Oncocyte’s transplant monitoring assays and the Bio-Rad QX600 ddPCR System solution for the noninvasive measurement and quantification of key biomarkers used in solid tissue transplant monitoring research has the potential to advance science and save lives.”