Menarini–Lunaphore: staining technology, 201809– collab Menarini Diagnostics to market LabSat Frozen tissue staining solution

	Period	2018-09-09
	Partner, 1st	A. Menarini Diagnostics S.r.l.
	Group	Menarini (Group)
	Partner, 2nd	Lunaphore Technologies S.A.
	Group	Bio-Techne (Group)
	Product	LabSat™ Frozen automated tissue staining solution (for IHC)
	Product 2	diagnostic device, in vitro

Lunaphore Technologies S.A.. (9/9/18). "Press Release: Menarini Will Bring Lunaphore’s Ultra-Rapid Tissue Staining Solution LabSat Frozen to Market". Lausanne & Florence.

Lunaphore Technologies SA, a Swiss Company developing innovative next-generation devices for cancer tissue diagnostics, and A. Menarini Diagnostics S.r.l., one of Europe’s leading diagnostic solution providers and part of the Menarini Group, today jointly announce the start of a strategic partnership bringing to the market a new and innovative system, using Lunaphore’s technology. LabSat™ Frozen is an ultra-rapid automated tissue staining solution performing immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays in a few minutes. Thanks to this breakthrough technology, patients will be able to benefit from a faster, better and more personalized treatment starting in the operating room. Shorter turnaround times may provide clinical pathologists with higher degrees of responsiveness for urgent testing and enable IHC consultation during biopsy procedures.

Lunaphore’s CEO, Ata Tuna Ciftlik, commented: “Menarini has not only a long-rooted experience across the entire tissue diagnostics market, but also an impressive understanding of the frozen sections segment. Their complementary product portfolio, their expertise in introducing innovative automation systems as well as their passionate sales and marketing teams, naturally made Menarini the best partner of choice”. He added “Menarini will bring our first product LabSat™ to pathologists while Lunaphore will continue providing highly innovative solutions. A perfect match”.

Menarini Diagnostics’ GM, Fabio Piazzalunga, said: “The Menarini Group is making important investments in oncology and this agreement confirms the commitment of the company in this field. A. Menarini Diagnostics has extensive experience in anatomical pathology and immunohistochemistry and, at the same time, it has always focused its activity on high-tech solutions bringing innovation into the IVD field. Lunaphore Technologies perfectly suits our strategic decision to consolidate our position in the cell pathology space, following Menarini Group’s efforts and investments towards better therapies and solutions for cancer.” He added “Lunaphore and Menarini will together offer a unique solution to pathologists for a more accurate diagnosis, starting from the crucial segment of the frozen sections”.

The partnership between A. Menarini Diagnostics and Lunaphore Technologies opens a new era of the anatomical pathology field, paving the way to one-day diagnosis.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations, which should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may alter actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from current expectations. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

About “frozen sections”

Tissue sections for pathological analysis are typically prepared and preserved either through paraffin-embedding or through cryopreservation (freezing), two common fixation techniques. Methods for cryopreservation of samples, also known as “frozen sections”, are able to fix tissue samples much faster than other alternatives and are, therefore, commonly used for the most urgent situations, such as emergency and transplant cases, as well as intraoperative testing. Nowadays, such frozen sections are typically dyed with non-specific staining for morphological examination, as biomarker specific immunohistochemistry (IHC) is too time consuming. LabSat™ Frozen aims to automate biomarker-specific frozen section IHC staining in less than 15 minutes, providing high-quality and reproducible outcomes without necessitating special reagents.

About Lunaphore

Lunaphore Technologies SA is a Swiss company developing next generation tissue autostainers. The award-winning technology at the core of the system is based on microfluidics. It aims to perform assays much faster than standard techniques and has demonstrated good results in tests with cancer patient samples. Lunaphore was founded in 2014 with the vision of bringing –omics like approaches to tissue diagnostics and has been recognized as one of the most innovative companies nationally and internationally.

About Menarini Group

A. Menarini Diagnostics belongs to the Menarini Pharmaceutical Group, founded in 1886 and established in Florence in 1915. Today it is present in 136 countries throughout the world and counts 17,000 employees with a turnover of over € 3,6 billion in 2017.

Contacts

LUNAPHORE

Irene Tamayo
Lunaphore Corporate Communications
communications@lunaphore.com
+41 21 353 58 22

Andrea Büchler
Lunaphore Finance and Business Development
andrea.buechler@lunaphore.com
+41 79 598 40 73

MENARINI

Headquarter
A.Menarini Diagnostics S.r.l
Via dei Sette Santi,3 – 50131
Florence, Italy
+39.055.56801
cellpathology@menarini.it

Offices
Via Lungo l’Ema,7 – 50012
Bagno a Ripoli (Florence), Italy
+39.055.5680 7840
cellpathology@menarini.it

* Lunaphore’s prototype is still in development and not for sale.