Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the signing of a worldwide distribution agreement with Visiopharm, enabling Agilent to co-market Visiopharm’s portfolio of CE-IVD marked artificial intelligence (AI)-driven precision pathology software in addition to Agilent’s portfolio of automated pathology staining solutions. With an initial focus on Europe, this agreement marks Agilent's first entry into the growing digital pathology market and strengthens the relationship between the two companies by further expanding the scope of their long-term collaboration.
Digital pathology is experiencing rapid growth worldwide, with its adoption expected to double by the end of this decade. As the use of digital pathology increases, AI-driven pathology solutions are emerging as the new standard. These solutions can provide diagnostic decision support and productivity enhancements that enable pathologists to improve diagnostic accuracy and workload management.
This adoption has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has found pathologists increasingly reviewing cases remotely. In the United Kingdom, for example, pathologists have received guidance for remote reporting of digital pathology slides in times of exceptional service pressure and support in the adoption of technologies, such as digital pathology, that have the potential to aid in their assessment.
“This is an exciting next step in our partnership with Visiopharm,” said Lou Welebob, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Pathology Division. “Being able to offer our customers digital pathology software alongside our range of automated staining solutions is a powerful combination that can support pathologists in their assessment and help improve patient care. We look forward to our continued collaboration with Visiopharm as we work together toward the fully digitalized pathology lab of the future.”
Michael Grunkin, CEO, Visiopharm said: “We're delighted to further expand our partnership with Agilent. With strong complementary solutions, we will be able to address recognized and currently unmet needs for both standardization and automation. This distribution agreement is a logical first step towards supporting those labs who share our joint vision of automated AI-driven precision pathology."
Prior to this announcement, Agilent and Visiopharm have collaborated to validate Visiopharm’s existing HER2 APP to include Agilent’s new HercepTest™ mAb pharmDx for Dako Omnis, both CE-IVD marked and available for sale in Europe. Released in October 2020, this product enables pathologists to use the Visiopharm HER2 APP for objective decision support in the assessment of HercepTest™ mAb pharmDx stained slides, saving valuable time for both pathologists and patients.
For in vitro diagnostic use in Europe.
HercepTest™ mAb pharmDx (Dako Omnis) (Code GE001):
The licensed antibody is created by Epitomics Inc. (an Abcam company), using Abcam’s proprietary rabbit monoclonal antibody technology covered under Patent No’s 5,675,063 and 7,402,409.
HercepTest™ and Herceptin® are trademarks owned by Genentech, Inc.