MADISON, Wis. & WALTHAM, Mass.—Roche and PerkinElmer have announced that they have formed a new supply agreement for the distribution of the NimbleGen CGX mircroarray workflow, for use in constitutional disease research. The agreement, which goes into effect as of January 2012, states that PerkinElmer will take over responsibility for the sale, service and support of the CGX array workflow for most countries outside of the United States. Roche, in turn, will maintain responsibility for selling the workflow in the United States and other select markets. The new agreement is a continuation of Roche and PerkinElmer's business relationship, which began in 2009 when the two worked on the development of a comprehensive cytogenetics array workflow. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Roche in helping to bring the benefits of a proven cytogenetics-based solution to researchers of new diagnostics outside of the U.S.," Jim Corbett, President, Diagnostics at PerkinElmer, said in a press release about the agreement. "We look forward to providing these diagnostics researchers with high-resolution, scalable and easy to use workflows to help them unlock DNA-based complexities of critical disease states."

 

 

The NimbleGEN CGX array workflow utilizes Roche's advanced microarray technologies and combines them with the cytogenetic-focused array design and analysis software developed by Signature Genomics, which PerkinElmer acquired in May of last year. Signature Genomics was the first laboratory to offer microarray-based cytogenetic testing in the United States, and its design of the NimbleGen CGX array design was based on the analysis of more than 50,000 cytogenetic samples in order to provide sufficient coverage of cytogenetically relevant regions.  

 

The combined workflow represents a comprehensive microarray solution for discovering and analyzing copy number variations that are associated with various constitutional disorders for the cytogenetics research market. It consists of NimbleGen CGX microarrays, reagent kits, the NimbleGen Hybridization Systems and Signature Genomics Genoglyphix software for data analysis. The NimbleGen CGX arrays come in 3-, 6- and 12-plex formats to fulfill a variety of throughput requirements.  

 

"This collaboration provides cytogenetics laboratories an array workflow with robust data, a quick and easy workflow, and powerful analysis tools," said Frank Pitzer, CEO of Roche NimbleGen, in a press release. "PerkinElmer's global experience in the genetic screening market and expertise in the field of cytogenetics is an ideal match for Roche NimbleGen's innovative array technologies."    

 

 

SOURCE: PerkinElmer press release