MADISON, Wis. & WALTHAM, Mass.—Roche and PerkinElmerhave announced that they have formed a new supply agreement for thedistribution of the NimbleGen CGX mircroarray workflow, for use inconstitutional disease research. The agreement, which goes into effect as ofJanuary 2012, states that PerkinElmer will take over responsibility for thesale, service and support of the CGX array workflow for most countries outsideof the United States. Roche, in turn, will maintain responsibility for sellingthe workflow in the United States and other select markets. The new agreementis a continuation of Roche and PerkinElmer's business relationship, which beganin 2009 when the two worked on the development of a comprehensive cytogeneticsarray workflow.Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Rochein helping to bring the benefits of a proven cytogenetics-based solution toresearchers of new diagnostics outside of the U.S.," Jim Corbett, President,Diagnostics at PerkinElmer, said in a press release about the agreement. "Welook forward to providing these diagnostics researchers with high-resolution,scalable and easy to use workflows to help them unlock DNA-based complexitiesof critical disease states."
The NimbleGEN CGX array workflow utilizes Roche's advancedmicroarray technologies and combines them with the cytogenetic-focused arraydesign and analysis software developed by Signature Genomics, which PerkinElmeracquired in May of last year. Signature Genomics was the first laboratory tooffer microarray-based cytogenetic testing in the United States, and its designof the NimbleGen CGX array design was based on the analysis of more than 50,000cytogenetic samples in order to provide sufficient coverage of cytogeneticallyrelevant regions.
The combined workflow represents a comprehensive microarraysolution for discovering and analyzing copy number variations that areassociated with various constitutional disorders for the cytogenetics researchmarket. It consists of NimbleGen CGX microarrays, reagent kits, the NimbleGenHybridization Systems and Signature Genomics Genoglyphix software for dataanalysis. The NimbleGen CGX arrays come in 3-, 6- and 12-plex formats tofulfill a variety of throughput requirements.
"This collaboration provides cytogenetics laboratories anarray workflow with robust data, a quick and easy workflow, and powerfulanalysis tools," said Frank Pitzer, CEO of Roche NimbleGen, in a press release."PerkinElmer's global experience in the genetic screening market and expertisein the field of cytogenetics is an ideal match for Roche NimbleGen's innovativearray technologies."
SOURCE: PerkinElmer press release
