GATC Biotech Offers the First Global Liquid Biopsy Service for Clinical Research and Translational Medicine

GATC Biotech AG, a world-wide leading provider of advanced genome analysis and diagnostic services, has announced the launch of its new GATCLIQUID service family.

The GATCLIQUID products allow highly sensitive detection of genomic alterations in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to capture the entire heterogeneity of cancer. The three GATCLIQUID services -ONCOEXOME, ONCOPANEL and ONCOTARGET - offer clinical researchers the opportunity to interrogate a whole range of tumor-related mutations that help characterize a patient’s cancer from a simple blood test.

“The GATCLIQUID service family brings us closer to our vision of replacing invasive, painful and costly diagnostics within oncology,” said Peter Pohl, co-founder and CEO of GATC Biotech. “After finalizing the first phase of our early access program with the GATCLIQUID Technology Suite™ in the past six months, we are now entering the second phase of the program to offer mass access to the entire scientific world. This set of blood tests is world-wide unique, because the technology will not only be provided to a few companies, but to all researchers world-wide and it makes us proud to enhance research on a global scale.” he added.

The service family, based on ctDNA detection using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and PCR, can be ordered either for fresh blood samples, fresh plasma samples or retained plasma samples. All three services will be carried out at GATC Biotech’s own laboratories under ISO 17025 accreditation and ISO 13485 certification.

“GATCLIQUID is a true game changer,” said Dr. Marcus Benz, COO at GATC Biotech. “The field of liquid biopsies is of enormous interest, as it offers opportunities for close surveillance that is so critical in cancer, given its dynamic and evolutionary nature. Depending on individual requirements, we offer GATCLIQUIDONCOEXOME, GATCLIQUID ONCOPANEL and GATCLIQUID ONCOTARGET.”

• ONCOEXOME is the first commercially available service for whole exome sequencing (WES) of ctDNA. It enables researchers to discover somatic tumor mutations by deep sequencing with a sensitivity of about 5% depending on the gene loci.
• ONCOPANEL is a comprehensive NGS panel for profiling important cancer mutations. It uses single molecule PCR to target 50 known cancer genes including tumor suppressors, mutation hotspots and drug resistance markers. The panel sets a new industry standard in terms of sequence coverage and uniformity with a sensitivity of about 1%.
• ONCOTARGET facilitates ultra-sensitive detection of clinically relevant cancer-specific single nucleotide variations (SNVs) in circulating cell-free DNA down to an allele frequency of 0.1% to monitor patients effectively during treatment or to detect a relapse at a very early stage.

“Although liquid biopsy analysis could be applied to many diseases, GATC Biotech currently focuses on oncology, as we want to take a leading part in transforming cancer from a deadly into a manageable disease,” said Dr. Marcus Benz. “By granting every researcher access to this technology we aim to significantly reduce cancer mortality rates in the near future.”

For more information, visit the GATC Biotech website.