Health IT vendor Cerner is working with Claritas Genomis to develop tools and connectivity to integrate genomic testing into healthcare practice.
The initiative to advance personalized medicine aims to better integrate results from next generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostic testing into delivering care to patients.
The companies say they intend to develop a rapid, scalable laboratory solution for molecular diagnostics that is tailored to NGS workflows. This is crucial in taking more advantage of NGS testing, which are more complex and generate much more data than traditional molecular diagnostic tests.
The initiative will begin with Claritas implementing Cerner’s Millennium Helix solution; it also will join Cerner’s Reference Lab Network to enable seamless ordering and results return for other Reference Lab Network partners.
As part of the relationship, Cerner Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary, has invested in Claritas, becoming a minority shareholder.
Cambridge-based Claritas is a clinical diagnostics laboratory that provides genetic testing with a focus on pediatric medicine, combining advanced genetic analysis technology with clinical interpretive services that tap into the expertise of specialists at the best pediatric hospitals. The company was formed as a spinout of Boston Children’s Hospital, with an investment from Life Technologies in February, and was recently joined by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and now Cerner, as key investors and network partners.
The relationship with Cerner will enable Claritas to tap into an existing, scalable computing infrastructure that integrates ordering of genomic sequencing tests, laboratory processing, results interpretation, return of results to the clinician and incorporation of the result in the patient’s electronic medical record.
“One of Claritas’s goals is to enable providers at any pediatric center or practice to use genomics in routine medical care,” says Patrice Milos, CEO of Claritas.. “Effective use of genomics in medicine requires integrating genetic information into the context of the patient’s unique clinical presentation. Cerner has decades of experience synthesizing complex medical information across organizations to inform patient care and we are extremely pleased to have them as a strategic partner.”