Next-generation sequencing player ArcherDX and precision medicine company HeliTec are teaming up to develop NGS-based cancer diagnostics in China. The pair will work on NGS-based tech and aim to get cancer diagnostic kits through the CFDA.
HeliTec aims to improve outcomes for cancer patients using sequencing-based diagnostics. Last month, the Shenzhen-based company launched a liquid biopsy project that will investigate up to 60,000 samples to “reveal molecular traces of early tumors that are destined to be malignant,” the company said. HeliTec is evaluating ArcherDX’s Reveal ctDNA 28 assay in this study.
ArcherDX also markets the FusionPlex RNA assays, VariantPlex DNA assays and the Immunoverse T-cell receptor kit in addition to the Reveal assay. The assays are for research use only, and will be “immediately available” from HeliTec, according to a statement.
"We are pleased to work with Archer to co-develop cutting-edge, NGS-based diagnostic assays in China, particularly on those cancer types predominant in Asian populations," said HeliTec CEO Dongbin Zhou in the statement. "AMP technology has been widely adopted for a number of cancer sequencing applications, and this collaboration will bring a complete pipeline of AMP-based assays to the Chinese clinical market."
Founded in early 2013, Boulder, Colorado-based ArcherDX was acquired by Enzymatics in a deal worth up to $50 million. In January 2015, diagnostics giant Qiagen bought Enzymatics, spitting out ArcherDX as an independent company.