Amersham and Bayer Diagnostics sign exclusive agreement for diagnostic sequencing

Amersham and the diagnostics division of Bayer HealthCare have entered into an exclusive worldwide agreement for joint development of assays and instrumentation in the field of sequencing of HIV and other important infectious disease-causing pathogens.

Under the terms of the agreement, Amersham will supply a modified version of its existing MegaBACE gene sequencer instruments and Bayer will develop sequencing assay applications for this MegaBACE sequencer. In addition, Bayer will purchase Amersham's reagents, notably its four colour dyes and proprietary enzymes as well as other consumables, for current and future assays. Both companies intend to seek regulatory approval from the FDA for the MegaBACE instrumentation and disease-specific assays.

'The availability of rapid genotypic analysis of HIV through DNA sequencing will increase the use of HIV-1 diagnostic assays in understanding resistance profiles and transmission patterns in the clinical management of patients,' said Dr Andrew Carr, president, discovery systems, Amersham Biosciences. 'Our agreement with Bayer also enables Amersham to transition our key DNA sequencing instrumentation and reagents from their significant role in the sequencing of the human genome to the diagnosis of infectious disease types and clinical interpretation of infection.'

'Bayer and Amersham's complementary expertise will facilitate the development of innovative TRUGENE assays on the Amersham high-throughput sequencer to provide wide access to personalised medicine,' added Dr Peter Knueppel, senior vice president, nucleic acid diagnostics business segment, Bayer Diagnostics.