BC Platforms Adds Interdisciplinary Center for Biobanking-Lübeck in Germany to its Global Network of Biobanks

ZURICH and BOSTON, June 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic data management and analytics, today announced that the German biobank Interdisciplinary Center for Biobanking-Lübeck (ICB-L) will join its BCRQUEST.com global network of biobanks. The BCRQUEST.com platform is a streamlined solution for the rapid identification of suitable cohorts and data for clinical research without compromising data security and patient confidentiality.

As part of the collaboration, BC Platforms will provide its platform BCRQUEST.com to academic and industry researchers to enable them to efficiently browse and analyze harmonized data for scientific research and drug development. ICB-L, the first German biobank to join this network, will provide access to summary level data of over 60,000 subjects with clinical and/or research data. ICB-L biobank also supports and enables over 40 clinical groups locally and facilitates access to some unique data collections within the University of Lübeck (UzL) & the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Lübeck.

The combined goals of the partnership are to accelerate precision medicine led healthcare and facilitate real world evidence studies assessing healthcare outcomes of patients in routine clinical practice using large and heterogenous patient populations. ICB-L will join a unique and growing scientific resource network that enables deeper and more specific analysis on populations. This will have a positive impact on health of patients with unmet medical needs.

Prof Jens Haberman, UzL's Chairmanship Representative, ICB-L and the President of European, Middle Eastern and African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking (ESBB), said, "Our biobank collections, with the support of clinical research groups in Lübeck, make a valuable contribution to the ecosystem BC Platforms is building. The clinical data at Lübeck can be used to understand disease epidemiology, patterns of care, patients' needs as well as gaining valuable insight into treatment effectiveness and safety. This partnership with BC Platforms offers us a new venue for collaboration by appropriately and securely using the data to benefit future patients in day-to-day clinical practice."

Tero Silvola, CEO of BC Platforms, said, "We are delighted to add ICB-L and their invaluable clinical data to our network of biobanks. We now have over 3 million subjects within our network with clinical data and subsets of genomic data that we are able to share through our data partners with academic and commercial customers. We believe that together we can effectively leverage this data to support precision medicine initiatives and real world evidence to deliver better patient outcomes."

About BC Platforms

BC Platforms is a world leader in providing powerful genomic data management and analysis solutions. Our high performing genomic data management platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information. The company has launched and opened a global network of biobanks, known as BCRQUEST.COM, to provide genomic and clinical cohort data for pharmaceutical and medical research and development. BC Platforms' vision is to build the world's leading analytics platform for healthcare and industry by 2020, providing access to diverse genomic and clinical data and samples from more than 5 million subjects consolidated from a global network of biobanks.

Founded in 1997 from an MIT Whitehead project spinoff, the Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by over 20 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, developers, manufacturers and vendors. BC Platforms has global operations with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, research and development in Espoo, Finland, and sales and marketing in London, Boston, and Vancouver. For more information, please visit www.bcplatforms.com or follow us on Twitter @BCPlatforms.

About ICB-L

The Interdisciplinary Center for Biobanking Lübeck (ICB-L) serves over 40 clinical departments and institutes of the University of Lübeck and the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) and forms the basis for research of excellence for patients' future benefits. ICB-L is DIN EN ISO 9001 certified since 2011, performs standardized collection and processing of tissue and liquid biospecimens using automated nitrogen storage solutions, and thereby promotes translational research and clinical trials at the highest level. The aim of ICB-L is to enable the biospecimen collections and associated clinical data to be used for basic research and identification, testing and validation of innovative biomarkers for improved diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and follow-up. ICB-L also promotes targeted therapies and strategies for Personalized Medicine. The ICB-L is part of several academic networks on national and international level, e.g. being part of eleven BMBF funded biobanks of the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) and majorly involved in activities of the European, Middle Eastern & African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking. For more information, please visit www.uni-luebeck.de/biobank.html.

Contact information:
BC Platforms:
Tero Silvola
BC Platforms AG
tero.silvola@bcplatforms.com