Biocartis has added two new assay products, including liquid biopsy assay and tissue assay, to its Idylla molecular diagnostics platform.
The products include Idylla ctBRAF mutation assay and Idylla NRAS-BRAF-EGFR S492R mutation assay.
Idylla ctBRAF mutation assay is claimed to be the world’s first and only fully automated liquid biopsy assay, which can replace tissue biopsy testing in melanoma, colorectal and lung cancers, as well as conditions such as hairy cell leukaemia and histiocytos.
The assay, which uses blood plasma as a sample, has a turnaround time of around 90 minutes with less than one minute of hands-on time.
In October of this year, the company said that it secured a grant from the Flemish Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) to support the research and development of liquid biopsy tests.
Biocartis CEO Rudi Pauwels said: "Liquid biopsy testing has the potential to significantly improve the early diagnosis and monitoring of cancer and Biocartis can now enable both tissue and liquid biopsy testing on the same instrument, in the same lab.
"With our new Idylla NRAS-BRAF-EGFR S492R Mutation Assay, we are now enabling same-day RAS testing."
Idylla NRAS-BRAF-EGFR S49 mutation assay is said to compliment the CE-marked Idylla KRAS mutation test, together offering a complete metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) mutation analysis from two slices of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumour tissue.
Both tests can detect 39 KRAS and NRAS mutations at high sensitivity, while the new detects 18 NRAS mutations and five BRAF mutations.
In addition, the new assay detects EGFR S492R mutation, which is associated with resistance to certain anti-EGFR therapies.