News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Thermo Fisher to Buy Life Technologies for $13.6 Billion in Bid to Beef Up Its Share of Next-Generation Genetic Testing Market

Multi-billion-dollar mega-deal positions Thermo Fisher to offer a broader spectrum of gene sequencing systems to clinical laboratories and pathology groups

Earlier this week, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., (NYSE: TMO) of Waltham, Massachusetts, announced a deal that will shake up the market for next-generation gene sequencing and genetic testing. It will acquire Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) of Carlsbad, California.

More IVD Industry Consolidation That Affects Clinical Laboratories

It is another example of consolidation involving two companies that sell products to the clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology sectors of the lab medicine marketplace. It is also a multi-billion dollar transaction. Thermo Fisher will pay $13.6 billion for Life Technologies, or $76 per share, according to a Reuters report. This amount represents an 11.7% premium over the $68 price per share of Life Technologies’ stock when trading began Monday morning. (more…)

Whole-Genome Sequencing Trials Suggest Time Has Come to Bring Personalized Medicine to Cancer Field

Pathologists will be interested to learn how French researchers used whole genome sequencing of breast cancer tumors to help with diagnosis and decisions about therapy

Pathologists take note! Human whole-genome sequencing of tumors was the source of information for making treatment decisions in a recently-published study. For the first time, researchers conducted a large trial involving testing the entire genome of individual breast cancers with the aim of personalized treatment.

This is the latest example of how rapid evolution of whole-genome sequencing technology now allows researchers to evaluate clinical applications for human whole-genome sequencing. The results are promising.

The research study was conducted at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). The researchers released their findings at the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) 2012 Congress, held recently in Vienna, according to an ESMO press release. (more…)

Cleveland Clinic’s Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2012 Include Three Megatrends with Broad Impact on Clinical Pathology Laboratories

Annual list emphasizes innovations on how clinicians will store clinical data and access it in ways that advance patient care

Each year the Cleveland Clinic announces its choices for the “Top 10 Medical Innovations of the Year.” In its list for 2012, there are at least three top innovations which will involve and engage clinical laboratories and pathology groups.

In particular, two innovations are a change in how medical informatics, including medical laboratory test data will be archived, assessed, and accessed. Here are the Cleveland Clinic’s top 10 medical innovations for 2012:
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In Alberta, Clinical Laboratories Adapt to One Integrated Province-Wide Health Services Administration Model

Pathologists and medical lab managers regularly challenged to provide high-quality cost-effective services with limited resources.

DATELINE: EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA—Over the past decade and a half, this economically-prosperous province has re-aligned its healthcare regional bodies more than once in an effort to control costs while supporting clinical services that meet the expectations of its patients. In some cases, these realignments have subjected Alberta’s clinical laboratories to deep changes in their reporting structure and operational make-up.

Your Dark Daily editor was in Edmonton last week and had the opportunity to visit the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Alberta Hospital (UAH). The laboratory facility encompasses four different floors of one wing of the over 800 bed facility. It is the location of one of the two Provincial Laboratories for Public Health in Alberta and includes UAH’s Division of Medical Microbiology.

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Mayo Clinic Biobank Shows How Pathologists and Researchers Are Interacting with Patients in Biobanking Ventures

Clinical laboratories and pathologists play important roles in these efforts to collect, store, and analyze DNA.


Increasingly, pathologists and clinical laboratories are playing a role in genetic research and biobanking by providing specimens. One credible example of this expanding trend is found at The Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. Its biobank wants to gather genetic material from 20,000 participants.

The biobank has already collected specimens from more than 8,300 patients who come from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, and other states. Mayo researchers are analyzing this genetic material to support research projects on heart disease, leukemia and cancers of the breast, the colon, and the lungs.

This effort is of interest to clinical laboratory managers and pathologists because it demonstrates how biobanking is evolving into a more sophisticated, even interactive endeavor that connects researchers with the sources of the specimens. At Mayo, pathologists and researchers are interacting with patients in ways that were not previously possible. Mayo’s biobank venture has a Community Advisory Board (CAB), for example, to ensure that the voice of the community is heard in the development of the biobank’s policies.

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