RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – RTI International is branching out its efforts to fulfill the nonprofit’s global mission of improving the human condition by investing in an emerging genomics and precision medicine startup.

RTI invested an undisclosed amount of money and will provide what it calls “strategic support” to PierianDx, which has offices in St. Louis and India. Pierian is focused on turning genomic data into advances in medical science.

PierianDx is known for having built the “Clinical Genomics WorkSpace (CGW),” which in the investment announcement RTI called “one of the most comprehensive clinical genomics platforms in the health care industry that creates streamlined, accurate analysis, interpretations and reporting for clinical labs.”

While RTI has invested previously in spinouts of technology its teams have developed and recently launched a startup, the direct investment represents a chance for the institute, which dates back to 1958.

“RTI has historically made investments primarily in the Institute and its spinouts. PierianDx represents an execution of our current strategic investment approach to build out, grow and diversify our research programs in areas that are aligned with our long-term growth goals and our mission,” explained Matt Jenkins, vice president and head of corporate development at RTI, in response to questions from WRAL TechWire.

Matthew Jenkins

Jenkins added that the PierianDx deal provides an avenue through which RTI can seek to utilize knowledge it has developed.

“RTI’s mission is to improve the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. Supporting the development of high growth companies in the healthcare sector allows us to directly contribute our knowledge to the front lines of clinical care where it can have a real impact on people lives,” he said.

“This investment also provides RTI with an opportunity to increase our own scientific stature  and potentially make contributions to the field of precision medicine by collaborating with a leader in the field. Genomics and rise of precision medicine is something that is getting tremendous attention by the research community worldwide.”

So how did RTI become familiar with the company?

“As part of our normal course of business and corporate development activities, RTI is actively engaging with potential strategic partners to explore scientific and other forms of collaboration including strategic investments,” Jenkins said.

“We found PierianDx to be aligned with our mission and at a very interesting intersection of genomics science, clinical informatics, and precision medical programs of leading healthcare providers.”

Jenkins said RTI is not yet providing any services to PierianDx but that could change.

“[W]e will naturally explore opportunities given our capabilities and scientific expertise in genomics, statistical genetics, and precision medicine,” he noted.


CLINICAL GENOMICS WORKSPACE

  • PierianDx’s Clinical Genomics WorkSpace (CGW) is the industry’s leading integrated workspace for genomic analytics, classification, interpretation and reporting. Driven by our KnowledgeSpace, CGW provides end-to-end workflow from sample to report that seamlessly integrates with patient medical records and lab information systems.
  • Case Accessioning: a clinical genomic test is ordered for a patient either within CGW or by receipt of an order from upstream medical systems
    Sequencing: primary data are acquired from sequencers to start the analytical process
  • Analysis: variants are called and annotated using validated pipelines and comprehensive genomic databases
  • Draft Report: medical interpretations and just-in-time curated information from our rapidly expanding medical knowledgebase are processed through a proprietary algorithm, which then produces a report highlighting the most relevant, clinically actionable information
  • Final Report: a fully featured, online editing system allows the medical professional to review, finalize, and sign out a report
  • Integration in Electronic Health Record: signed out report is messaged to the medical record for review by the treating physician

Source: PierianDX


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Dr. Wayne Holden, RTI’s chief executive officer, said in a statement that “PierianDx’s enabling technology is well aligned with our strategic investment program and RTI’s mission to improve the human condition by turning knowledge into practice.” He also stressed that  “next-generation sequencing is a rapidly evolving scientific field with the potential to inform clinical risk detection, disease identification, and advance prevention and treatment of diseases.”

PierianDx launched in 2014.

“We are very excited to collaborate with RTI on numerous fronts, and welcome the partnerships and research capabilities they bring in the healthcare sector,” said Rakesh Nagarajan, founder and CEO of PierianDx, in the announcement.  “The collaboration between RTI and PierianDx will be a catalyst to advance molecular testing methodologies and precision medicine programs worldwide.”