Agilent Technologies and Burning Rock Sign Agreement on Molecular Diagnostics

Santa Clara, September 30, 2016: Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and Burning Rock today announced they have signed an agreement under which Burning Rock will develop cancer diagnostics in China based on the Agilent SureSelect target enrichment system.

Agilent is the leading provider of target enrichment for next-generation DNA sequencing. Target enrichment saves researchers time and resources by enabling them to focus on regions of interest rather than looking at the entire genome. Burning Rock is a fast-growing company focused on developing cancer diagnostics based on DNA sequencing.

“As the leader in molecular cancer diagnosis in China, Burning Rock is very pleased to partner with Agilent, a global leader in diagnostics and genomics,” said Yusheng Han, the founder and chief executive officer of Burning Rock. “Collaboration between our two companies will provide additional high-quality molecular diagnostic solutions based on next-generation sequencing, including non-invasive testing, relapse monitoring, early-stage diagnosis and cancer susceptibility.”

Fast and accurate cancer diagnoses are becoming increasingly important in China, with its extensive population and growing focus on advancing human health.

“We are excited to partner with Burning Rock to accelerate accurate diagnosis of cancer for patients in China,” said Jacob Thaysen, president of Agilent’s Diagnostics and Genomics Group. “We believe that target enrichment and next-generation sequencing have a vital role to play in personalizing medicine and ultimately delivering treatments tailored to the individual. This is especially so for complex diseases such as cancer.”

Burning Rock plans to register its molecular diagnostic kit with the China Food and Drug Administration. The company believes the kit could become the first CFDA-approved capture sequencing-based cancer diagnostic assay in the Chinese market.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)