Agilent Technologies Acquires Avida Biomed to Enhance Cancer Research Tools

Agilent Technologies has announced the acquisition of Avida Biomed, an early-stage life sciences company specializing in high-performance target enrichment workflows. These tools are designed for clinical researchers utilizing next-generation sequencing (NGS) for cancer studies.

The acquisition strengthens Agilent’s market-leading SureSelect portfolio and supports its strategy to expand into the high-growth clinical research and diagnostics markets. Avida Biomed’s chemistries and assays are compatible with Agilent’s automation platforms, including Magnis and Bravo, facilitating efficient scaling of research experiments and routine sample testing.

Avida Biomed’s innovative genomics tools enable simultaneous genomic and DNA methylation profiling from a single sample without compromising sensitivity or specificity. The company’s streamlined assay protocol, including library preparation, can be completed within a single shift, enabling fast turnaround of results. This automatable workflow has been validated for various sample types, including liquid biopsies, which have demanding performance specifications.

Sam Raha, president of Agilent’s Diagnostics and Genomics Group, stated that Avida Biomed’s scientists have created a best-in-class toolset highly complementary to Agilent’s existing NGS offerings. He expressed excitement about welcoming the Avida Biomed team and bringing these powerful tools to oncology customers worldwide working to improve cancer understanding, diagnosis, and treatment.

Avida Biomed’s technology will enable scientists in precision medicine to develop new approaches for applications such as biomarker discovery, patient selection for clinical trials, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy selection, and disease recurrence monitoring. Avida Biomed CEO Shengrong Lin expressed honor and excitement about joining forces with Agilent to bring their technology to market, emphasizing the importance of target enrichment for in-depth analysis of gene targets and looking forward to combining resources and expertise for broad availability to clinical researchers globally.