A multi-year agreement between BioSkryb Genomics and Cooper Genomics, a reproductive health company was announced yesterday (October 18).
The agreement is to license BioSkyrb’s proprietary genomic amplification technology.
Cooper will utilize the Bioskryb technology to enhance their preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) capabilities. The agreement will also allow Cooper to boost BioSkyrb’s tech for the PGT and women’s reproductive health market.
Infertility
Infertility affects approximately 15% of couples, an estimated 48.5 million couples worldwide. Often couples turn to in vitro fertilization (IVF) to get pregnant. Preimplantation genetic testing aims to identify euploid embryos (those with the correct number and makeup of chromosomes) with the aim of selectively transferring these euploid embryos a single embryo at a time, which has been shown in multiple studies to increase live birth rate, decrease miscarriage rate and reduce multiple pregnancy chances.
Charles Smith, executive vice president of Life Science Services and Innovation at Cooper Genomics, said: “Screening IVF embryos for chromosomal and other genetic abnormalities before transfer has been shown to increase the likelihood of achieving a successful pregnancy, including increasing implantation rates, reducing miscarriage rates, increasing live birth rates, and enabling single embryo transfers.
“Having access to the BioSkryb technology will provide a new level of genomic analysis and testing accuracy, enhancing the positive impact we have in the field of women’s reproductive health and in the lives of patients around the world.”
Embryonic viability
The newly announced deal will provide Cooper Genomics with BioSkryb’s ResolveDNA single-cell genomic amplification technology, enabling researchers and clinicians to unlock deeper insights into the genome to evaluate embryonic viability.
ResolveDNA says it incorporates proprietary Primary Template-directed Amplification (PTA) technology. PTA employs controlled reaction parameters, allowing uniform amplification of less than 95% of the genomes of single cells across multiple clinical and research applications – even in low input samples – with precision and sensitivity.
This approach results in the highest quality analyses available today for single-cell genomics across many disciplines including, but not limited to, oncology, neurology, cell and gene, cardiovascular, microbiome, and reproductive health.
Embryo biopsy samples
“The ground-breaking technology behind our ResolveDNA product was designed specifically to address the challenges seen with current bulk sequencing and single-cell analysis, such as uniform coverage of the genome, breadth of genomic coverage, as well as specificity of the resolution required for accurate variant calling. These challenges can particularly hinder confidence in the analysis of preimplantation genetic testing,” said Jay West, co-founder of BioSkryb.
“The partnership with Cooper Genomics will bring more precise and complete understanding of the genome, further supporting the accurate determination of viable embryonic use.”
Chief scientific officer at BioSkryb Genomics, Gary Harton, wanted to add to the excitement around the impact for IVF patients. He said: “Having spent the majority of my career performing work at the single cell level, I was astounded by the data produced by the ResolveDNA platform. When utilized on embryo biopsy samples, adding PTA to the front-end of PGT testing at Cooper Genomics will unlock a wave of new discovery and clinical improvements for IVF patients globally.”
The deal spans multiple years and is exclusive in the PGT and Women’s Reproductive Health markets.