 |
| Andrew Webb |
EKF Diagnostics, Cardiff, UK, has established a new division to focus on molecular and companion diagnostics.
EKF Molecular Diagnostics will develop technologies for cancer gene detection through its acquisition of 360 Genomics, UK.
Companion diagnostics are used to distinguish between which patients are most likely to benefit from a particular therapy or those patients where the therapy will prove ineffective or even harmful.
- PointMan™, the company’s leading product, is a real-time PCR technology that provides highly sensitive detection for cancer mutations. It is efficient in amplifying the target sequence of interest while suppressing amplification of the wild type. The resulting sample is effectively enriched for the mutation, thereby having the potential to offer sensitivity in a wide variety of sample types.
The company expects to follow the spring launch of PointMan with several additional product launches during the second half of the year.
- Xtract™, the second product to be offered, offers a quick, less expensive, clean, and automatable platform for DNA extraction technology, the company says.
Andrew Webb, who has joined as CEO of EKF Molecular, hails from QIAGEN, where he established and led global market development for the high-growth personalized health care business. Previously, he was an executive director at DxS, a personalized health care company.
[Source: EKF Diagnostics]
