Emory University's School of Medicine and its Emory Genetics Laboratory (EGL) and Eurofins Scientific (Eurofins), a global leader in bio-analytical testing and genomic services, announced that they have entered into a joint venture that calls for Eurofins to acquire a controlling interest in EGL. Pending regulatory approvals, EGL will be re-named EGL Genetic Diagnostics, LLC.
EGL, founded at Emory in 1970, and a component of the Department of Human Genetics, provides high-complexity molecular, biochemical and cytogenetic testing for rare and common genetic diseases and disorders. EGL currently serves more than 400 institutional clients, including hospitals and other commercial laboratories across the US and overseas.
"The team at Emory Genetics Laboratory is excited about working with Eurofins, contributing our unparalleled expertise in genetic diagnostics, and expanding the reach of our experience to an international patient community," says Madhuri Hegde, PhD, executive director of EGL. "Our team of more than 100 staff members is led by a highly experienced and knowledgeable team of laboratory directors who are leaders in the field of human diagnostic genetics."
EGL is renowned for testing rare genetic disorders. The laboratory has comprehensive testing facilities for cytogenetic, biochemical and molecular genetics. As the first academic laboratory to bring Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies to the genetic testing market, EGL remains a leading player in cutting-edge genetic tests, with "first-to-market" tests comprising more than 80 percent of its analytical portfolio.
As a leading NGS testing laboratory, EGL believes it has the largest menu of NGS panels in the industry, and conducts over 35,000 tests annually for genetic diseases, carrier screening, as well as prenatal testing. Furthermore, EGL is leading the industry in gene panels including inherited genetic diseases, cancer testing and exome sequencing, to aid diagnosis, prognosis, management and targeted drug therapy (e.g., personalized medicine), in addition to expanded carrier testing capabilities.
The agreement with EGL is expected to further strengthen the pharmaceutical and genomic service offerings of Eurofins and reinforce its development into a leading presence in the specialty clinical testing services for hospitals, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies.
"This acquisition of EGL strengthens Eurofins' growing footprint in the specialty clinical diagnostics market," says Gilles Martin, PhD, Eurofins CEO. "Emory Genetics Lab provides Eurofins a truly unique platform to leverage our renowned competence in genomic testing to better serve the global healthcare community. In combination with ViraCor, Boston Heart and Diatherix, EGL provides Eurofins a leading position in the most technologically-driven segment of the specialty clinical diagnostic testing market."
About Emory Genetics Laboratory:
Emory Genetics Laboratory is dedicated to providing superior, cutting-edge genetic testing for use in patient care. EGL currently employs more than 100 staff members and is led by a highly experienced and knowledgeable team of laboratory directors, who are pioneers in the field of human genetics. Their expertise spans the fields of high complexity molecular, biochemical and cytogenetic, rare-disease testing, carrier testing and comprehensive testing for newborn screening follow-up. EGL is the first clinical laboratory to contribute to the "Free the data" movement, by giving the clinical and research community open-access to its online variant (mutation) database. EGL also serves as the follow-up laboratory for the state of Georgia Newborn Screening Program.
About Eurofins:
Eurofins Scientific is the world leader in food and pharmaceutical products testing. It is also number one in the world in the field of environmental laboratory services and one of the global market leaders in agroscience, genomics, discovery pharmacology and central laboratory services. With over 17,000 staff in more than 200 laboratories across 36 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 130,000 reliable analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products. Eurofins provides its customers with high-quality services, accurate results on time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.