PR84375

PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire and LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 15, 2020/PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

Epredia, a global leader in precision cancer diagnostics and tissue

diagnostics, and Lunaphore Technologies SA, a Swiss life-sciences company

developing innovative next-generation equipment for cancer research, have

announced today that they have entered into a distribution agreement. This

follows the announcement of a strategic investment in Lunaphore by PHC Holdings

Corporation, the parent company of Epredia, which was announced on February 6,

2020.

Under the terms of this agreement, Epredia have been appointed the exclusive

distributor of the LabSat(R) Research platform in the US, UK and Germany, where

Epredia will start to distribute the product in July 2020, as well as Japan,

where commercialization will begin in 2021. In these countries, Epredia will

also provide service for the Lunaphore instruments.

The LabSat(R) Research platform is an ultra-fast automated tissue staining

instrument for rapid immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF). It

utilizes Fast Fluidic Exchange microfluidic technology for rapid and uniform

delivery of reagents to tissue samples. This enables accurate staining with

improved protocol turnaround time.  

The LabSat(R) Research platform will be available for research use only in the

US, UK, Germany and Japan and offers a fully open system, providing fast,

flexible, reproducible and standardized IHC and IF staining for research

laboratories. This platform also has proven potential for rapid multiplex

IHC/IF.

"Lunaphore is one of the most exciting players in tissue staining instruments

and we believe that their technology has the potential to help revolutionize

tissue analytics" said Sandra Cummings, Vice President of Sales and Marketing

for Epredia. "Their LabSat(R) Research platform ideally complements our

existing instruments and enables us to offer customers a more complete

portfolio of immunohistochemistry staining solutions for research. We are

excited to be able to bring this technology to researchers to support our

mission to improve the lives of patients by enhancing precision cancer

diagnostics."

Lunaphore's platform complements Epredia's LabVision IHC portfolio to offer a

complete line of precise, agile and flexible IHC solutions for research

laboratories. LabVision IHC instruments and consumables are recognized for

enabling standardized high throughput IHC staining and will be offered

alongside Lunaphore's solutions that offer flexible solutions for rapid IHC

staining.  

LabVision Autostainers and PT Modules are open IHC platforms that have been

optimized with LabVision UltraVision detection kits and primary antibodies.

These high throughput instruments are capable of staining between 36 and 84

slides in approximately 3 hours and utilizing between 300 and 600 microliters

per slide.

"This commercial partnership with Epredia is an exciting next step for

Lunaphore, as it will expand our reach to key markets across the world,

especially into the US" said Ata Tuna Ciftlik, Lunaphore's CEO. "By using

Epredia's global footprint and experience in the field, we will be able to

empower more researchers with our technology and help them develop highly

sophisticated next-generation tissue analytics tests."

One of the core elements of Lunaphore's systems are proprietary staining

microfluidic chips which create a closed chamber that deliver reagents to

tissue samples in a homogenous and instantaneous way. Lunaphore's products aim

to enable sophisticated assays while sharply reducing turnaround times. Thanks

to precision fluidics, regular frozen sections can be stained with standard IHC

reagents in 12-18 minutes, and FFPE sections can be stained with standard IHC

reagents in 20-30 minutes, with high quality results. LabSat(R) can also

perform TSA-based IF multiplexing, obtaining a 6-plex in just over 4 hours.  

These short incubation times improve workflow, limit the exposure of the tissue

to the reagents and prevent degradation of samples, which is particularly

important in research when performing multiplex applications with multiple

staining cycles. LabSat(R) enables high precision liquid handling in an open

and versatile manner, in a small footprint instrument for research

applications, without the investment requirements of large workflow automation

systems.  

Notes for Editors

For further information on Epredia and its products, please visit:

www.epredia.com

For further information on Lunaphore and its products, please visit:

www.lunaphore.com.  

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1180318/Microfluidic_Staining_Chip.jpg  

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/971426/Epredia_Logo.jpg  

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1180317/lunaphore_Logo.jpg

For more information, please contact:  

Joseph Delahunty  

Corporate Communications

Email: joseph.delahunty@ascensia.com;

Irene Tamayo  

Corporate Communications  

Email: communications@lunaphore.com;

Andrea Buchler

Finance and Business Development  

Email: andrea.buechler@lunaphore.com  

SOURCE: Epredia and Lunaphore