Roche to acquire digital pathology specialists
pharmafile | August 23, 2010 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Diagnostics, Roche
Roche has added to its portfolio of diagnostics products by acquiring US company BioImagene.
The privately held Californian company specialises in tissue-based cancer diagnostics and research and has been bought out by Roche for around $100 million.
Cancer treatment is increasingly being tailored to subgroups of tumours and tissue types, and BioImagene’s technology helps speed up the sharing and transfer of pathology results.
BioImagene is a leader in the field of digital pathology workflow and analysis. This allows patients’ tissue samples on glass slides to be captured as digital images and then managed and shared between healthcare professionals.
BioImagene, will be merged into Roche’s digital pathology subsidiary, Ventana Medical Systems.
“As part of the personalised healthcare approach, pathologists are increasingly involved in generating information with high impact on treatment decisions,” said Daniel O’Day, chief operating officer of Roche Diagnostics. “The increasing complexity of new tests and technologies creates tremendous need for more sophisticated tools for tissue analysis and diagnosis. BioImagene products will complement and strengthen our current offering in image analysis and information management.”
“With its leadership position in pathology and its global reach, Ventana is the ideal partner for BioImagene,” commented Ajit Singh, chief executive of BioImagene.
“Ventana is already a leader in image analysis for breast cancer applications and has a wide range of market-leading diagnostics products used in hospitals and laboratories worldwide. In turn, BioImagene brings to Ventana additional capabilities for scanning and analysing tissue that are not possible in the glass-slide world.”
BioImagene’s products create high-resolution, whole-slide digital images from glass microscope slides. They also provide the software to view, analyze and manage tissue images using a computer, taking pathology beyond traditional microscope applications. In addition, their products improve workflow efficiency in image archiving and retrieval, remote case review, and turnaround time.
“Through this acquisition, Ventana is uniquely positioned to improve laboratory efficiency and help pathologists improve patient care,” said Hany Massarany, President of Ventana Medical Systems “Our VIAS Image Analysis System was the first entry into the digital pathology market and is now the leading system for automated image analysis in breast cancer. With BioImagene’s current and future products we will be able to deliver an end-to-end solution from automated staining to comprehensive patient reports.”
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