Philips, Illumina partner to offer integrated genomics solutions for oncology

Philips and Illumina announced that they will collaborate to leverage Illumina's sequencing technology and BaseSpace Sequence Hub with Philips' cloud-based IntelliSpace Genomics clinical informatics platform in a bid to advance cancer research. The companies said the partnership aims to "coordinate marketing and sales of the resulting solutions," and will also "seek to engage in clinical research collaborations with health systems in the US that want to develop precision medicine programmes in oncology."

Jeroen Tas, CEO of Connected Care and Health Informatics at Philips, remarked that "until now the ability to use genomic data with the aim of having a precise diagnosis of cancer…was mostly for the domain of academic centres. Through this collaboration we will unlock the value of genomics for a much wider group of laboratories and care providers to help them advance genomics initiatives at greater speed." Illumina CEO Francis deSouza noted that the partnership "will provide an excellent path for our next-generation sequencing systems to be incorporated into health systems in the US and worldwide."

Under the collaboration, whose financial terms were not disclosed, data will be acquired by Illumina's cloud-based BaseSpace Sequence Hub connected to its instruments and will be processed through Philips' IntelliSpace Genomics solution for oncology. The companies noted that this solution will combine data from multiple sources, including radiology, immunohistochemistry, digital pathology, medical records and laboratory tests, and "will deliver a consolidated dashboard view."

Philips and Illumina also said they plan "to collaborate on system integration, cohort analysis and health economics applications, and future research programmes." The companies added that the system will help investigators "develop insights more efficiently and will ultimately support lowering the cost of healthcare delivery and improved health outcomes."

Earlier this week, Illumina and IBM Watson Health announced a partnership that will integrate Illumina's BaseSpace Sequence Hub and tumour sequencing process with Watson for Genomics to expand access to genomic data.