The Dx Digest - Vol. 1

Welcome to the First Edition of 'The Dx Digest' brought to you by Paul Atkinson & Adam Hargreaves.

With over 15 years' recruitment experience and 30,000 followers between us in the IVD space, we continuously follow market trends so why not put these in a newsletter!

As part of this monthly newsletter, we'll bring you the latest industry news, technology innovations and top movers & shakers from across our industry.

Lookout for the Company Spotlight too where we will be introducing a young organisation you might not have come across yet!

So, lets get started...

M&A ??

Hot of the press with Bruker announcing the acquisition of ELITechGroup, boosting their Infectious Disease capabilities.

This is a landmark deal worth €870 million and merges EliTech's expansive assay menu and cutting-edge systems with Bruker's existing portfolio.

Although the acquisition hinges on regulatory approvals, its a significant step forward for diagnostics, where M&A activity has been limited in the past 6 months.

Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc.have acquired THREE companies to bolster AI & Gene Editing Capabilities.

So why and who?!

First up is Proof Diagnostics, Inc.who are a startup co-founded by CRISPR pioneers Feng Zhang, Omar Abudayyeh& Jonathan Gootenberg. Ginkgo said it would use OMEGA libraries to "bolster" its gene therapy services.

Ginkgo also acquired Patch Biosciences and its AI-based platform for sequence design. Ginkgo will incorporate Patch's models and downstream assays, adding new capabilities in synthetic promoter and untranslated region engineering.

Finally, Ginkgo have acquired key assets from Reverie Labs, a firm that had been applying AI and machine learning tools to drug discovery, including Reverie's infrastructure and software for training large-scale AI models.

Diagnostics Growth ??

Q4 figures are out and the landscape is looking positive ??

Naterahad a huge 2023 against the odds and market average reporting 32% increase in total revenues.

NeoGenomics LaboratoriesQ4 revenues were up 12% with improvements credited to testing volumes increasing.

Veracyte, Inc.Q4 revenues grew 22% driven by strong sales of its Afirma thyroid cancer and Decipher prostate cancer genomic sequencing classifier tests.

Guardant HealthQ4 was a big one with 22% growth led by testing growth and reimbursement wins!

GeneDxreported Q4 growth of 27% led by their Exome and Genome testing and they are well on the path to profitability by 2025.

Myriad Genetics reported an 11% jump in Q4 led by strong testing volumes. Prenatal testing can take most of the credit which has expanded 62% year over year!

Fulgent Genetics Q4 core revenues rose 24% reporting revenues of $70.5 million and beating Wall Street estimates.

Last but not least, DevyserQ4 revenues jumped through the roof, posting 33% increase! 2023 was a breakthrough year for the team and here’s what CEO Fredrik Alpsten had to say;

'2023 was the most successful year yet for the company with the signing of our first contract for our US-based CLIA-certified lab with UK diagnostics firm Cyted, expanding into new international markets, and its laboratory services co-promotion alliance with Thermo Fisher Scientific'.

Strategic Collaborations ??

Reading predictions for the market in 2024, there were a number of experts predicting more collaborations between companies; as we approach the end of Q1, they were right!

bioMérieuxhave partnered with theFDAto develop molecular tools for food safety. The collaborators plan to use new technologies which improve the isolation of Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli, enhance detection of Cyclospora cayetanensis, and simplify microbial characterization methods for food-borne pathogens including Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes.

BDhave partnered with digital health firm Camtech Healthto increase cervical cancer screening in Singapore through self-collection of samples. The program combines the Camtech’s HPV test for self-collection with the BD Onclarity HPV assay for detecting 14 high-risk human papillomavirus strains.

The mission; to improve the rate of cervical cancer screening in Singapore and we can get all get behind that Meng Han K.!

ABL Diagnostics S.Ahave entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with AB ANALITICAto commercialize microbiology genotyping solutions in Italy.

Under the agreement, AB Analitica will have the rights to promote and commercialize ABL Diagnostics' assays and software systems to all laboratories in Italy.

Mainz Biomedare last with two exciting announcements.

Firstly, they have signed an agreement for the distribution of its ColoAlert at-home colorectal cancer screening test in Germany with PRAXISDIENST Europe S.à r.l., who are the country's biggest retailer.

Next up for Mainz is a partnership with Italian laboratory firm TomaLab to launch their ColoAlert colorectal cancer screening test in Italy. This collaboration will make the PCR-based ColoAlert test available in Italy for at-home stool sample collection for the early detection of colorectal cancer and precancerous lesions.

Busy, Guido Baechler!

Executives on the move ??

It wouldn’t be our diagnostics market without movement in the executive suite and I expect more as we transition through the first half of this year.

The biggest announcement recently is at QuidelOrtho who have parted ways with long-term CEO, Douglas Bryant.

Not many CEO’s last 15 years and that’s testament to Doug who has overseen some of our industry’s biggest news, including the $6 billion merger between Quidel and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.

I'm sure it will be a period of change - good luck to whoever jumps into the hotseat!

Funding ??

The best part of our jobs is seeing funding announcements for companies who are hitting milestones and getting noticed by investment groups.

First up we have Tagomics who are based in the UK and a spin-out from the University of Birmingham!

They have just announced funding of ￡6.7 million led by Calculus Capitalto support R&D for its multiomic platform for finding biomarkers for cancer and other diseases. Others who joined in included, Illumina Ventures, IQ Capital, Agilent Ventures & Mercia Ventures.

CEO and Cofounder Jack Kennefickhad this to say;

"The multiomic capabilities of Tagomics'?approach enable more comprehensive insight into diseases such as cancer. Funding will enable us to develop a simpler and more accurate means of diagnosing and treating patients."

Tagomics also announced themselves as the first Europe-based participant in the new Illumina Ventures lab program too.

Congrats to the team! Rob Neely!

Next up is Alamar Biosciences, Inc.who brought in a whopping $128 million in oversubscribed Series C funding led by Sands Capital.

This is huge news for the Proteomics market and this funding will be used to accelerate Alamar's commercialization efforts.

Alamar, who are based in San Francisco and led by Yuling Luo, claim their technology has capabilities that allows customers to accelerate biomarkers and the development of non-invasive tests for diseases with unmet needs.

The Proteomics market is one to watch this year with CAGR forecasting 14.9% growth by 2030!

Company Spotlight ??

In each edition of #thedxdigest, we will be featuring a company who you might not have come across yet.

The aim is to raise awareness of young companies who are either pre-seed or early stage funded and are on their own milestone journey!

This week its Scinvivo B.V.

Scinvivo's mission is to revolutionize cancer diagnostics and care, by providing medical professionals with the next-gen minimal invasive imaging platform.

To help them get there, they have just closed €4.7M financing which will be used to introduce their OCT platform to market.

Based in Eindhoven, the company were founded in 2016 and their CEO is Marijn van Os.

?? Learn more here - https://www.scinvivo.com/ and give them a follow!

Want to be featured in our next company spotlight? Then get in touch and we can have a chat to discuss.

So that's a wrap for Volume 1!

Stay tuned for more and don't forget to follow Sci-Rec for the latest industry news and job advertisements.

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