Agilent Technologies has announced the signing of a distribution agreement with Visiopharm, which will see it co-market Visiopharm’s portfolio of CE-IVD marked AI-driven precision pathology software in addition to its own automated pathology staining solutions. With an initial focus on Europe, this agreement marks Agilent's entry into the digital pathology market and strengthens the long-term collaboration between the two companies.
As the use of digital pathology increases, AI-driven pathology solutions are emerging as the standard, the companies say. These solutions can provide diagnostic decision support and productivity enhancements which enable pathologists to improve diagnostic accuracy and workload management.
This trend has been accelerated during the pandemic, the companies say, which has found pathologists increasingly reviewing cases remotely. In the United Kingdom, for example, pathologists have received guidance for remote reporting of digital pathology slides in times of exceptional service pressure and support in the adoption of technologies, such as digital pathology, that have the potential to aid in their assessment.
“This is an exciting next step in our partnership with Visiopharm,” said Lou Welebob, VP and General Manager of Agilent’s Pathology Division. “Being able to offer our customers digital pathology software alongside our range of automated staining solutions is a powerful combination that can support pathologists in their assessment and help improve patient care. We look forward to our continued collaboration with Visiopharm as we work together toward the fully digitalised pathology lab of the future.”
Michael Grunkin, CEO, Visiopharm said: “We're delighted to further expand our partnership with Agilent. With strong complementary solutions, we will be able to address recognized and currently unmet needs for both standardisation and automation. This distribution agreement is a logical first step towards supporting those labs who share our joint vision of automated AI-driven precision pathology."
Prior to this announcement, the companies collaborated to validate Visiopharm’s existing HER2 APP to include Agilent’s HercepTest mAb pharmDx for Dako Omnis, both CE-IVD marked and available for sale in Europe.
