BioMérieux spinoff Biotheranostics strikes precision medicine deal for cancer tests

BioMérieux spinoff Biotheranostics has been looking to chart more progress for its cancer tests since leaving its French parent earlier this year. Now it’s making strides through a new deal with precision medicine company Syapse.

San Diego-based Biotheranostics will work with Syapse to combine data from its CancerTYPE ID and Breast Cancer Index (BCI) genomic tests with Syapse’s precision medicine platform. The hope is that clinicians will be able to better access results from Biotheranostics’ tests to make important decisions about care for cancer patients.

The partnership benefits both sides. Syapse’s precision medicine tool is used “at some of the largest and most prominent healthcare institutions in the nation,” Biotheranostics said in a statement, so the latest collaboration would expand the use of the latter's cancer diagnostics.

Biotheranostics’ tests could also allow Palo Alto-based Syapse to gain momentum with its point-of-care genomics platform. Biotheranostics' BCI test helps doctors determine which patients are a good fit for certain therapies based on their risk of getting the disease again later in life. The company's CancerTYPE ID classifies tumor types and can be paired with standard disease assessments to determine the best course of treatment.

“We are excited to work with Syapse to make our Breast Cancer Index and CancerTYPE ID clinical testing services available to more health systems through the Syapse Precision Medicine Platform,” Biotheranostics CEO Nicolas Barthelemy said in a statement. “Precision medicine promises to transform healthcare over the next several decades. We are committed to helping physicians find the most effective treatment for each cancer patient based on his or her specific molecular profile. Integrating data from our molecular tests with the Syapse platform will better help physicians harness individualized patient information to extend lives and reduce costs.”

Biotheranostics’ latest deal comes 9 months after it announced that it would embark on a solo act. In January, the company raked in $32 million in private equity financing to leave French diagnostic outfit BioMérieux. BioMérieux remains a minority shareholder in the company. 

After waving adieu to its French parent, Biotheranostics said that it would focus primarily on expanding the market for its BCI test. The company pledged to “grow its commercial presence and expand its clinical development programs with the goal of expanding the clinical indications” for the tool, it said in January.