Life Technologies and VelaDx inked a license and supply agreement giving the latter rights to develop and market next-gen sequencing-based infectious disease and cancer IVD assays on Life’s Ion Personal Genome Machine™ (PGM™) sequencer. Vela says the Ion PGM system is complementary to its own Sentosa™ workflow system and menu of qPCR assay kits, and will enable seamless two-way communication between the two platforms.
VelaDx offers a range of molecular diagnostic tests that exploit its flagship Sentosa SX101 system, a flexible, automated pipetting system that offers what the firm claims is an easy-to-use workflow for nucleic acid extraction and PCR setup for up to four assays simultaneously. Life’s Ion PGM sequencer, which has yet to be approved by FDA, is a benchtop, PostLight™ semiconductor-based platform that directly converts chemical sequence information into digital forms, and can carry out a sequencing run in just 90 minutes, the firm reports. Vela is a specialist provider of innovative and integrated diagnostic workflows for the screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of disease.
“Our agreement with Life Technologies puts Vela Diagnostics at the cutting-edge position in medicine,” comments Michael Tillmann, VelaDx CEO. “The Ion PGM system will support Vela’s strategy to improve laboratory efficiency and bring new innovative tests to our customers to help improve treatment decisions for patients.”
