NEWS
Roche to acquire LumiraDx’s POC technology
Roche has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire select parts of the LumiraDx group, related to LumiraDx’s innovative point-of-care (POC) technology. Following closing of the transaction, which is expected by mid-2024, the acquired entities will be fully integrated into Roche Diagnostics. LumiraDx’s technology integrates multiple POC tests on a simple-to-use single instrument and brings more affordable and accessible testing to patients worldwide. The transformative POC solution will complement Roche’s centralised diagnostics portfolio across clinical chemistry, immunochemistry, coagulation and molecular, and across multiple disease areas.
“The addition of the LumiraDx technology to our diagnostics portfolio will enable us to transform POC testing,” said Matt Sause, CEO Roche Diagnostics. “LumiraDx has developed a highly versatile platform that delivers strong performance across multiple disease areas and technologies. We believe this will enable better patient access to timely results in decentralised healthcare settings worldwide.” The platform offers a wide range of immunoassay and clinical chemistry tests, with great potential for additional high medical value tests in the future. These are capable of being stored at room temperature which enables convenient handling in decentralised settings. The transaction is subject to certain conditions including antitrust and regulatory approvals. Under the terms of the agreement, at the closing of the transaction Roche will pay a purchase price of US$295 million (subject to customary closing adjustments) and an additional payment of up to US$55 million for the reimbursement of amounts to fund the POC technology platform business until the closing of this acquisition. The transaction is part of a pre-packaged UK administration sale, with the full support of LumiraDx group’s senior secured lender.
BSMT launches Annual Microbiology Conference
The British Society for Microbial Technology (BSMT) has unveiled details of its annual conference. The 39th Annual Microbiology Conference will take place on Thursday 2 May at the RAF Museum, Hendon, with the title: ‘Rapid Diagnostics – warts and all.’ The scientific programme will have a particular focus on the use of rapid testing in the diagnosis of infectious disease and the detection of antibiotic resistance. The full programme is available on the BSMT website. Highlights include: ‘How do we assess and value rapid diagnostics?’ – Dr Luke Moore, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust; ‘Next-generation molecular diagnostics.’ – Dr Jesus Rodriguez-Manzano, Imperial College, London; ‘Evaluation of a unified metagenomic method for rapid detection of bacteria, fungi and viruses in clinical samples.’ – Adela Alcolea-Medina, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, London; ‘UKHSA: What next for AMR?’ – Dr Alicia Demirjian, UK Paediatric
Antimicrobial Stewardship network. Registration is open now, at the early-
bird price of £50 – which applies until 15 April. (A higher rate of £75 will apply after this date.) Morning coffee, light refreshments and lunch will be provided. As always, this year’s BSMT Conference will have a full trade show hosting 20 of the most innovative companies attending to present their latest developments and newest equipment, eager to talk to delegates about what their company can offer your laboratory. Register for the Conference by visiting
www.bsmt.org.uk/registration/.
Paige unveils new AI for cancer detection across multiple tissue types
Digital pathology solutions firm Paige has announced the release of a groundbreaking AI product developed from Paige’s Pathology Foundation Model, Virchow. The new application can detect cancer across more than 17 different tissue types including skin, lung, and the gastrointestinal tract, along with multiple rare tumour types and metastatic deposits. The new product is a result of Paige’s collaboration with Microsoft. Enabled by unique computational resources provided by Microsoft Research, the new application has been built using one of the largest libraries of digitised images. Traditionally, development of pathology cancer detection AI applications required large datasets, one tissue type at a time, often taking months or years to build at clinical grade. By leveraging its unique Foundation Model, Paige says it has surpassed these limitations. With data derived from over four million digitised slides, Paige’s innovative approach removes the constraints of developing single-tissue products, making it possible to create cancer detection AI applications efficiently
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across a multitude of tumour types, a first in AI-based cancer diagnosis.
“The early success of our Foundation Model has been possible due to the size, quality, and diversity of the datasets we used to build it,” said Siqi Liu, PhD, director of AI Science at Paige. “Paige has access to one of the largest and most highly regarded pathology datasets globally, which allows us to leverage cutting-edge deep-learning approaches to train systems to detect common, complex, and even very rare cancer entities. Paige’s development provides the pathology community with the most powerful tools for diagnosis, prognosis, biomarker development, and targeted selection of patients for precision therapy,” he continued.
FEBRUARY 2024
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