Partnership advances commercialisation plans for local molecular diagnostics company

MedTech News: An Australian molecular diagnostics company has formed a global strategic alliance to expand its product offering locally and through new markets.

The alliance between Genetic Technologies and Qiagen, a global leader in molecular testing with operations in 35 countries, will establish and develop a ‘Centre of Excellence’ facility in Australia initially servicing Australia and New Zealand with potential for expansion throughout the region.

The relationship is expected to open a wide range of new commercial opportunities for Genetic Technologies with enhanced automation capability and increased capacity supporting long-term revenue growth.

In April 2022, Genetic Technologies engaged Hahn Healthcare and launched its Virtual Sales Rep (VSR) in the Australian General Practice with sales management support targeting 2,000 general practice clinics with > 6 GPs which represent > 80% of all consultations. The goal was to develop clinical practices into 40-50 “geneType Hubs”. With the support of the clinical and medical team, Genetic Technologies developed an “Early Access Program” enabling clinical practices to offer their first 10 patients testing at no-charge.

This initiative with Qiagen will also unlock the Australian reimbursable market for all testing categories, including the geneType hereditary cancer test. This will make the geneType breast, ovarian and colorectal cancer tests the most comprehensive offering in the market later in 2023.

The company presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastroenterology (ASCOGI) Cancer Symposium in January 2023. The data demonstrated a significant improvement in predicting a patient’s risk of developing colorectal cancer by expanding the number of genetic markers, called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), used as an important element of the company’s geneType Risk Assessment Test for colorectal cancer.

Gaining reimbursement coverage for geneType cancer assessment tests is expected to accelerate the adoption of these tests by General Practice clinics where patients are able to undertake the test with minimal out-of-pocket expenses.

Genetic Technologies CEO, Simon Morriss, said “We are extremely excited to be forming this alliance with the regional subsidiary of such a prestigious global partner. After a period of extensive trialling throughout 2022 we are now onboarding this capability within our labs, and will see significant benefits with automation. We also see this relationship unlocking the reimbursable market within Australia, as our tests are progressively adopted by our local GP clinics.

“Finally and importantly, there is tremendous alignment between both organisations for growth in our region with planning already underway for a number of significant new emerging initiatives.”

Qiagen will support the enhancement of Genetic Technologies capabilities through software, hardware, consumable and technical solutions.

Qiagen Managing Director, Head of Commercial Operations AUS, Rod Gleeson, commented “We are excited to take our existing partnership with Genetic Technologies to the next level. This strategic alliance will leverage Qiagen testing technologies from Sample to Insight for multiple applications. Further we believe this will facilitate growth and expansion in the region, and potentially even beyond.”

In reimagining healthcare across the entire patient journey, Health Industry Hub^TM is the only one-stop-hub uniting the diversity of the Pharma, MedTech, Diagnostics & Biotech sectors to inspire meaningful change.

The Health Industry Hub^TM content is copyright protected. Access is available under individual user licenses. Please click here to subscribe and visit T&Cs here.