GUILDFORD, U.K.—As October dawned, Genomic Health Inc., a molecular diagnostics company focused on the global development and commercialization of genomic-based clinical laboratory services for cancer, selected IDBS, a global provider of research data management and analytics solutions to research and development and healthcare organizations, to provide the tools to help Genomic better manage its clinical research data.
Genomic Health has in its arsenal two clinically validated assays in the areas of breast cancer and colon cancer. These tests provide individualized tumor information that enable physicians and patients to make personalized treatment decisions to determine, for example, whether chemotherapy would be effective in early-stage breast cancer.
The company uses a combination of gene expression technologies to build sensitive and quantitative gene expression profiles as the foundation for new oncology diagnostics.
With increasing volumes of data being generated, IDBS' solutions will help Genomic Health capture genomic data from multiple platforms and enable researchers to query the data across multiple experiments. IDBS says that Genomic needed data capture technologies that were not only flexible, but also scientist-friendly.
"Genomic Health was looking for an open, more flexible system for managing rapidly expanding volumes of genomic data and associated analysis workflows," says Simon Beaulah, marketing director of translational medicine for IDBS. "They needed to implement a data management and analysis system that would work within their existing architecture, which includes a LIMS system for clinical data, Illumina DASL assays and QPCR."
In addition, these tools will ensure that all the intellectual property generated by researchers is effectively captured at the point of invention.
To serve Genomic's needs, IDBS' InforSense workflows and E-WorkBook products will be employed. Those tools allow data analysis and annotation of resulting biomarkers to be automated, standardized and stored.
"Our solution will help Genomic Health improve their data organization, increase their efficiency, and make their vast stores of data more manageable," continues Beaulah. "This will give Genomic scientists the easy access to the data they need to run experiments, and will ensure that all the IP generated is effectively captured at the point of invention."
In addition, scientists can automate data analysis and annotation of resulting genomic hits and ensure analysis is standardized and stored for reuse, Beaulah says.
"This will provide the foundation to enable Genomic Health to more rapidly and accurately develop new assay products for additional cancer types," he says.
"As we have expanded and refined our assays, the amount and heterogeneity of data generated has increased significantly, and the IDBS platform will help us manage the data today and as our organization continues to grow in the future," said Joel Robertson, senior manager of LIMS Software at Genomic, in a prepared statement.
"Both the E-WorkBook and InforSense Suites provide unique, valuable capabilities to the research community, and by combining aspects of the two suites, we have provided a revolutionary approach to managing and using critical biomarker data," says Neil Kipling, founder and CEO of IDBS. "We understand how our customers work and what they need to manage their data, and in doing so we provide the solutions that help advance their research."
Beaulah adds that his company participated in talks with Genomic to ensure that the adoption of the IDBS tools would be a good fit.
"After a thorough evaluation process," he explains, "Genomic Health decided that IDBS was the best solution based on its data management, IP capture and data analysis capabilities, as well as the IDBS professional services expertise."
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Beaulah offered that Genomic licensed the necessary software in early 2010 and went live with its first deployment in October.
The IDBS Healthcare Unit seeks to advance personalized medicine and improve patient outcomes through the delivery of advanced translational medicine and biomarker research informatics that bridge the worlds of clinical, molecular and image data. The company accomplishes this by delivering the enterprise infrastructures and managed services required for translational and biomarker studies to enhance innovation, accelerate research and improve data and research quality.
Genomic is a molecular diagnostics company focused on the global development and commercialization of genomic-based clinical laboratory services for cancer that allow physicians and patients to make individualized treatment decisions. The company was founded in 2000 and is located in Redwood City, Calif.
IDBS is a global supplier of innovative data management and first-in-class analytics solutions that strive to increase efficiency, lower costs and improve the productivity of healthcare research and development organizations. The company includes among its customers multinational pharmaceutical companies, major public-private healthcare partnerships, global leaders in academic study and high-tech companies.
Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Guildford, U.K., IDBS has a worldwide consulting and support presence, with offices in California, New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as in Europe, Australia and China.
GUILFORD, U.K.—IDBS also recently partnered with Somaxa Ltd., a company specializing in medical data solutions for healthcare and pharmaceutical clients, in an agreement to deploy IDBS' InforSense Suite as Somaxa's underlying technology platform.
According to the companies, the partnership will "deliver innovative data analysis and visualization solutions to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries," the first of which, the "U.K. Diabetes Intelligence Portal," is in development.
InforSense enables researchers to connect complex clinical, genomic and image data via interactive, Web-based visualizations.
"This partnership is an exciting opportunity for us, giving Somaxa access to one of the world's leading platforms for advanced clinical research and healthcare analytics," says Chris Hodkinson, director of Somaxa. "The InforSense Suite allows us to rapidly develop healthcare data solutions and to focus on exploiting the vast amount of electronic healthcare data available to improve pharmaceutical R&D, patient care and patient safety."