Roche acquires exclusive rights to AbVitro's extension-based target enrichment technology

Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) has acquired exclusive rights to a primer extension-based target enrichment technology and associated patent applications filled by therapeutic target discovery company AbVitro.

AbVitro and Roche scientists are to collaborate on the development and application of the technology, which will be used to support next-generation sequencing directly from blood or other biological samples, a key advantage for clinical sequencing applications. It will be incorporated into Roche’s sequencing unit research and development pipeline to support the strategy of providing a full next-generation sequencing workflow solution for clinical sequencing.

Dan Zabrowski, head of Roche Tissue Diagnostics and the sequencing unit said: “The potential of this technology will allow Roche to optimize our sequencing portfolio to provide a full workflow solution for our customers. Sequencing is transforming the understanding among researchers and clinicians of how genomics will impact health. We look forward to advancing this technology in order to streamline sequencing methods for easy-to-use clinical applications.”