Agilent to supply components for LipoScience’s Vantera Clinical Analyzer

Agilent Technologies has signed a new exclusive supply agreement that will see it providing key components for the Vantera Clinical Analyzer from LipoScience.

The life science company will create nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) components for the analyser device, which is the first fully-automated NMR diagnostic platform designed specifically for the clinical laboratory.

Combining proprietary signal-processing algorithms and NMR spectroscopic detection, it has been shown to be able to identify and quantify concentrations of lipoproteins and potentially small-molecule metabolites.

The device has already been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration and will play a key role in pioneering a new field of personalised diagnostic products.

Nick Roelofs, president of Agilent's life sciences group, said: "We are extraordinarily pleased to join forces with LipoScience to provide key components for this leading-edge diagnostic platform."

Last month, the company was awarded a US patent for new comparative genomic hybridisation assays it has developed.