QIAGEN expands its offerings of digital PCR kits and services for the biopharma industry
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
QIAGEN, a leading biotechnology company listed on NYSE and Frankfurt Prime Standard, has recently expanded its digital PCR (dPCR) offerings for the biopharma industry's cell and gene therapy development. To achieve this, the company has joined forces with Niba Labs, a specialized analytical laboratory in digital PCR assay development and sample testing. The collaboration aims to provide tailored dPCR assay design services to biopharma customers and has also introduced the CGT Viral Vector Lysis Kit for standardized workflow, allowing accurate quantification of viral titers for multiple serotypes from cell lysates.
The strategic partnership between QIAGEN and Niba Labs enables QIAcuity customers to access the combined expertise of both companies, facilitating the creation of custom simplex or multiplex assays for nucleic acid quantification. Furthermore, Niba Labs will perform validations of these assays according to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines. This collaboration ultimately aims to support cell and gene therapy developers in meeting strict project timelines and overcoming resource limitations.
Michael Scheffler, Vice President and Head of Life Sciences PCR Business at QIAGEN, emphasized the company's dedication to delivering innovative solutions that cater to the evolving needs of the biopharma industry, with a particular focus on cell and gene therapy applications. Dr. David Dobnik, Chief Scientific Officer at Niba Labs, expressed their commitment to developing advanced analytical solutions tailored to the biopharma industry, particularly for cell and gene therapies.
As part of their growing digital PCR portfolio for the biopharma sector, QIAGEN introduced the CGT Viral Vector Lysis Kit for the QIAcuity digital PCR instrument. This kit complements the existing QIAcuity Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) dPCR Assays and QIAcuity Residual DNA Quantification Kits. The CGT Viral Vector Lysis Kit streamlines AAV lysis processes, enhancing standard operating procedures, quality control, and safety. Together with the QIAcuity CGT dPCR Assays, this kit offers highly accurate and repeatable quantification of viral genome titers, making it ideal for drug development and manufacturing quality control.
QIAGEN's digital PCR platform, QIAcuity, utilizes nanoplates to disperse samples into thousands of tiny partitions and simultaneously reads reactions from each partition. This groundbreaking technology allows the platform to quantify even the faintest signals from DNA and RNA, providing a higher level of sensitivity and accuracy compared to conventional qPCR. The QIAcuity system is available in different versions, capable of processing hundreds of samples in a short period, making it highly suitable for various applications in drug development, clinical trials, and manufacturing.
