Thermo Fisher Scientific and Roche renew technology alliance

Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced the renewal of its longstanding technology sharing alliance with fellow life science company Roche.

The non-exclusive, long-term, royalty-bearing agreement pertains to the use of Thermo Fisher's BRAHMS PCT procalcitonin technology as an automated immunoassay on the Roche Elecsys cobas e platforms in all countries outside the US.

With the Elecsys BRAHMS PCT immunoassay, healthcare professionals can benefit from an integrated solution for accurate sepsis diagnosis that can significantly improve medical decision-making.

The PCT biomarker test is the gold standard for the early detection of sepsis in critically ill patients, helping the Elecsys cobas e platforms to build up a large global installed base in immunoassay laboratories.

Marc Tremblay, president of Thermo Fisher Scientific's clinical diagnostics business, said: "The continuation of our close collaboration with Roche significantly strengthens our ability to make our biomarker test globally available to a broader patient population."

This comes after Thermo Fisher announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2013 earlier this month, highlighting a record $3.24 billion (2.14 billion pounds) revenue total.