NeoGenomics launches university partnership

FORT MYERS — Cancer-testing laboratory NeoGenomics says it has entered into a research agreement with Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and the Northwestern Medicine Developmental Therapeutics Institute.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Fort Myers-based company says in a statement that the agreement will help expand cancer tests to develop new therapeutics for cancer.

“We believe that collaboration between academia and industry is key for successful innovation and improved patient care,” says Maher Albitar, chief medical officer and director of research and development at NeoGenomics, in a statement.

“Our joint research efforts with NeoGenomics are important elements of the Lurie Cancer Center and NMDTI's roles as global leaders in delivering personalized medicine,” says Leonidas Platanias, director of the Lurie Cancer Center, in a statement.

“This is a time of fundamental change in cancer therapy,” says Francis Giles, director of the institute and deputy director of the Lurie Cancer Center. “We are being challenged to optimally incorporate the translation of molecular biology into personalized medicine while we also have a blossoming of immune-oncology as a therapeutic approach.”