Mission Bio partners with LabCorp to accelerate targeted drug development with single-cell genomics

Following earlier LabCorp strategic investment, Mission Bio single cell-sequencing technology will be used by LabCorp to support clinical trials, along with the evaluation of potential applications in clinical diagnostics and companion diagnostics development

 Mission Bio, the pioneer in high-throughput single-cell DNA analysis and precision genomics, announced that it has entered into a collaboration with LabCorp, a global life sciences company that is deeply integrated in guiding patient care. LabCorp’s Covance Drug Development business will be the first global contract research organization to offer services on the Mission Bio Tapestri^® Platform, supporting biopharmaceutical customers in their need for faster, more precise clinical trials. Additionally, LabCorp is evaluating the Tapestri Platform for applications in clinical diagnostics and in the development of new companion diagnostics. This collaboration follows LabCorp’s strategic investment in Mission Bio’s $30 million Series B funding round, which was completed in December 2018.

With the growing complexity of clinical trials, precision biomarkers are needed to reduce the time and costs associated with the drug development cycle. Broad-based sequencing technologies in most cases lack the sensitivity to identify the rare cells that drive disease. The Mission Bio Tapestri Platform is currently the only single-cell targeted DNA solution available to more precisely identify cancer cell mutation profiles. The Tapestri Platform’s unique ability to sensitively detect rare cancer subclones and co-occurring cancer mutations using single-cell genomics offers a precise way to measure therapy response and disease progression.

“The combination of LabCorp’s diagnostics and drug development capabilities makes it the ideal partner to expand our global ecosystem by opening access to the biopharmaceutical industry,” said Charlie Silver, CEO of Mission Bio. “We have had significant interest from global pharma companies that want to access our Tapestri Platform to support their clinical programs. With this partnership, we can now offer complete support from preclinical and biomarker discovery through to clinical trials and commercialization.”

“LabCorp’s in precision medicine is based on a combination of knowledge, experience, and our ability to recognize and utilize novel genomics tools that can support the development and commercialization of new therapies and diagnostics,” said Steve Anderson, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Covance. “The Mission Bio Tapestri Platform fully supports our strategy to remain a in bringing these increasingly important technologies to physicians and patients. There is keen interest in improving the identification of residual cancer cells that remain after treatment, to provide more specific information about treatment response and remission durability. A more sensitive test for minimal residual disease (MRD), which is possible through single-cell genomics, has great potential to streamline clinical trials and help providers manage their patients’ care more effectively.”

Separately, Mission Bio is also announcing an alliance with Argonaut Manufacturing Services, a cGMP contract manufacturing organization (CMO) serving the biopharmaceutical and human diagnostics industries, to serve as its preferred global CMO. With Argonaut’s added expertise in operations and manufacturing, Mission Bio completes its supply chain to provide customers with an end-to-end solution for its biopharmaceutical business and enables turnkey commercialization of its Tapestri Platform.

Details about LabCorp’s investment and the terms of Mission Bio’s respective agreements with LabCorp and Argonaut are not being disclosed.