GE Healthcare to invest US$1bn in new oncology solutions
Expanding advanced cancer diagnostic and molecular imaging capabilities
GE Healthcare plans to invest US$1bn of its r&d budget over the next five years in the expansion of its advanced cancer diagnostic and molecular imaging capabilities, as well as its technologies for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and for cancer research.
The investment crosses all lines of GE Healthcare’s global business and will enable the company to bring the most promising cancer ideas to market and develop technologies that improve accuracy of diagnosis.
‘We are committed to tackling cancer. However, with a disease as complex and multifaceted as cancer, solutions need to be equally multifaceted and even more integrated, combining imaging, molecular diagnostics and healthcare IT,’ said John Dineen, president and chief executive of GE Healthcare.
GE Healthcare already offers a wide portfolio for oncology and a strategy that combines cellular research, medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and information technology.
In recent years, GE Healthcare has significantly expanded its presence in the oncology arena through acquisitions, of Amersham (2004), Biacore International (2006), Wave Biotech (2007), MicroCal (2008), Clarient (2010) and Applied Precision (2011), and a joint venture Omnyx (2009).
The investment will focus on developing new oncology solutions and build on advanced technologies and research already in progress, including:
- New biomarkers: Clarient is investigating a new biomarker, TLE3, to identify patients who will not respond to Taxane. The goal of this test is to help clinicians exclude those patients from this therapy who are least likely to benefit, thus saving them needless exposure to serious side effects. TLE3 is being developed for breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer, and will be ready for market launch in 2013.
- Molecular pathology: GE Global Research scientists are working on an exclusive cancer diagnostic technology that may give a clearer picture of pathways driving specific tumours, which could lead to more effective, personalised treatment. Called multiplexing, the technology could allow pathologists to conduct more than 50 different stains on a single tissue section.
- Cancer research: GE Healthcare’s cellular and sub-cellular imaging technologies, such as the IN Cell 6000 and Applied Precision’s super-resolution microscopes, are central to many areas of cancer research including drug discovery and biomarker research.
- Biopharmaceutical manufacturing: GE’s biotechnology products and services are used in the manufacture of the majority of FDA-approved biopharmaceuticals and are important for developing new and targeted cancer therapies.
- Hyperpolariser: In collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), GE Healthcare and GE Global Research are developing new C13-based agents for metabolic imaging, which is described as a groundbreaking approach to understanding the precise margins of a tumour, how fast the tumour is growing and how well it responds to treatment.
