Discovery Life Sciences Continues Expansion Through The Acquisition Of Leading Immunohistochemistry Service Laboratories

Discovery's Services Uniquely Support Preclinical, Translational, and Clinical Research through Biospecimen Procurement, Multiomic Annotation, and Bioinformatic  Analysis

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama, Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Life Sciences^TM (Discovery) today announced the acquisition of QualTek Molecular Laboratories (QualTek), a renowned provider of immunohistochemistry (IHC) services with CAP/CLIA-accredited and Good Laboratory Practice-(GLP) capable laboratories in California and Pennsylvania, respectively. QualTek's acquisition significantly augments Discovery's existing histopathology services and creates a uniquely powerful suite of solutions that include one of the world's largest commercial biorepositories and biospecimen procurement networks, the HudsonAlpha Discovery sequencing and bioinformatics laboratory, and innovative flow cytometry and cell-based laboratory services. 

The science of IHC is crucial for the identification and validation of tissue biomarkers that inform decision making throughout drug and diagnostic research and clinical development.  Drug and diagnostic development programs in Oncology depend on the use of specific and sensitive biomarkers that help scientists define diagnostic and treatment options for specific patient populations and understand the underlying biological processes driving both disease progression and the potential benefits of the targeted therapies under development.

Discovery's integrated, holistic approach to biomarker validation starts by accelerating the earliest stages of preclinical research via access to its millions of biospecimens and the provision of a broad range of multiomic annotation services. The acquisition of the QualTek  team adds innovative assay development and validation capabilities combined with the knowledge and expertise to utilize any of the the major IHC technology platforms.  The QualTek team continues to build on its successful track record of supporting clinical trial design and providing the follow-on centralized clinical trial IHC laboratory services; the expert team at QualTek developed the prototype PD-L1 companion diagnostic assay that provided the  foundation for development of the companion diagnostic for pembrolizumab.

"We founded QualTek 22 years ago and have successfully realized our vision of using IHC as a platform for personalized medicine to help increase cancer patient response to therapy," said Frank Lynch, PhD, COO of QualTek. "We can now leverage direct access to the largest bank of annotated FFPE blocks to allow our biopharma partners to design clinical trials strategically, based on understanding the expression of their target proteins in specific patient populations."  

"This knowledge can save millions in cost, years of time, and help drive successful development programs that change patients' lives," added Steve Bernstein, PhD, CEO of QualTek. "QualTek is proud and excited to join Discovery Life Sciences and bring the advantage of our scale and synergies to accelerate the research and development of our clients' drugs and companion diagnostics."

"All of Discovery's services provide access to leading edge science, technologies, quality and speed. Our clients rely on us to accelerate their decision making as they move along the path that begins in research and extends through clinical development," said Glenn Bilawsky, Discovery's CEO.  "The expertise and scale of our new immunohistochemistry capabilities, alongside our leading biospecimen, flow cytometry, and genomic services, uniquely enable us to deliver meaningful answers that our clients can trust to develop innovative drugs and diagnostics faster and more cost-effectively."

About Discovery Life Sciences
Discovery Life Sciences is the global market leader in biospecimen analysis, procurement, distribution, and genomic, cell-based and histology-based scientific services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostics industries. HudsonAlpha Discovery is Discovery's sequencing and bioinformatics division, a globally recognized service laboratory that leverages the most current genomic research technologies to comprehensively support discovery, translational, and clinical research. Driven by science, the Discovery team engages with customers in an innovative, consultative approach to overcoming obstacles and reaching a faster end result. We are Science at your Service™! For more information, visit dls.com.

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