Almac has launched Next Generation Sequencing service to further expand its range of solutions supporting the development of personalised medicine. The purpose of this service is to support Almac’s BioPharma partners in the development of molecular tests for trial enrichment and companion diagnostic development, specifically focussing on targeted re-sequencing.

Almac currently offer solutions using microarray, qPCR and IHC and the addition of the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform fully complements this range of clinically focused diagnostic delivery platforms.

Almac previously launched a service focussing on the analysis of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) data and based on feedback from the market has decided to develop this service further to include data generation and to allow the delivery of NGS based assays in their CLIA lab.

Professor Paul Harkin, president and managing director of Almac’s Diagnostics business unit and Professor of Molecular Oncology at Queens University Belfast said, “There are only a limited number of platforms that are truly amenable to diagnostic delivery. The NGS field has now moved to a point where it is a viable delivery platform and as such is a logical addition to our suite of services. We have already begun the process of developing CLIA based assays for important mutations involved in drug response.”

Almac already perform Next Generation Sequencing for Omixon, a bioinformatics company focused on the development of validated data analysis solutions to scientists working in genomics with special emphasis on clinical and diagnostic applications.

Attila Bérces, founder and CEO of Omixon said, “Omixon aims to provide the most accurate and highest quality DNA analysis software. Almac complements our effort by providing the highest quality sequencing data. The MiSeq data we received from Almac is of highest quality which helped Omixon in developing and validating our HLA-typing software. Next Generation Sequencing can revolutionize HLA-typing which is carried out on millions of samples annually.”

Almac’s Diagnostics business unit is focused on the discovery and development of biomarkers. Its focus is on providing a range of services including exploratory biomarker discovery studies, verification studies for existing markers, assay development and biomarker validation.