Mayo Clinic will join with Cancer Genetics to develop and commercialize cancer diagnostics based on next-generation sequencing through a new joint venture.

The joint venture, OncoSpire Genomics, will focus on projects identified by its partners through the Biomarker Discovery Program, within Mayo’s Center for Individualized Medicine. Initial focus areas will include hematological and urogenital cancers, and potentially other cancers as selected by a scientific review committee formed by OncoSpire. The committee consists of six researchers, thought leaders and clinicians.

OncoSpire will be based in Rochester, MN, and will be equally owned by Cancer Genetics and Mayo Clinic. Cancer Genetics said it will contribute operating capital, commercial expertise and other guidance, while Mayo will contribute in-kind sequencing and laboratory resources, clinical and research expertise, and other unspecified operational resources.

Financial details of the joint venture were not disclosed.

“We expect this new venture to accelerate cancer biomarker discovery research already underway at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center,” Robert Diasio, M.D., cancer researcher and director of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, said in a statement.

Mayo said research will be conducted in its genetics and life sciences labs, including its Center for Individualized Medicine Biomarker Discovery Program and the medical genome facility, which allows medical researchers to investigate how individual differences in the structure and function of human genomes influence health outcomes.

The Center for Individualized Medicine will work with Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and Mayo Medical Laboratories to enable patients at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere to access discoveries from the joint venture.

“Cancer Genetics’ strength in hematological and urogenital cancers brings a tremendous knowledge base to the partnership. Together we can make a significant impact in the pursuit of personalized medicine that is transforming cancer treatment,” R.S.K. Chaganti, Ph.D., founder and chairman of Cancer Genetics, said in the statement.

In February, Cancer Genetics won CLIA and New York state approval to launch its third diagnostic, a version of its MatBA® microarray test for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The company also markets MatBA diagnostics for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL).

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