Discovery Life Sciences

This installment of Supplier Spotlight® is on Discovery Life Sciences, who provide the world class biospecimen analysis and procurement needed to advance modern drug and biomarker discoveries.

What is your company’s mission?

We are the Biospecimen and Biomarker Specialists™ applying a Science at Your Service™ approach to accelerate precision medicine programs. Our mission is to streamline access to well-characterized study cohorts and deliver actionable, reliable multi-omic biomarker data using an innovative and consultative approach that helps clients make strategic decisions faster, overcome obstacles and achieve their goals of improving the treatment and diagnosis of complex diseases.

What products and services do you offer?

We provide global biospecimen solutions, high-quality cell therapy starting materials, biomarker testing and biomarker training services.

• Biospecimens: Discovery has the world’s largest commercial repository of biospecimens and global logistical systems to acquire, biostore, process, culture, characterize and ship biospecimens efficiently at any scale.

• Biomarker Services: We provide a full suite of multi-omic biomarker testing services to produce reliable and actionable biomarker data that guide translational, pre-clinical, global clinical trials, assay development, assay validation and post-market biomarker training programs. We have state of the art, CLIA certified, CAP accredited, GCLP and ISO13485 compliant service laboratories including flow cytometry, next generation sequencing (NGS), molecular pathology, cell therapy and immuno-histochemistry (IHC) based biomarker services.

What problems do you solve?

Strategy, speed and precision are critical when it comes to executing global drug and diagnostic programs. By providing clients access to bespoke biospecimen study cohorts that accurately represent their intended use populations with our multi-omic biomarker testing and training services, we offer a unique platform that delivers reliable, actionable biomarker data faster. This allows scientists to more confidently make decisions and strategically execute successful precision medicine programs.

What are the most innovative tools and technologies that you offer?

We deliver integrated biospecimen and biomarker solutions, expertly-guided at every step and for every scale.

• Biospecimens: Our biorepository is 10 million+ biospecimens strong while our global clinical site network, Discovery Partners®, consists of 300+ clinical sites with access to millions of patients worldwide.

• Genomic Biomarker Services: Our global genomic biomarker services lab, HudsonAlpha Discovery®, provides robust NGS services - including PacBio, Illumina, 10X, Qiagen and others.

• Tissue Biomarker Services: Our global tissue biomarker service labs apply molecular pathology, digital pathology, IHC technologies (Leica, Agilent, Ventana), multiplexed IF and genomic tools to help scientists identify, develop and validate biomarker assays.

• Global Clinical Trial Support: Our expert biomarker service labs routinely support global clinical trials using optimized workflows, large-scale capacity and rigorous adherence to applicable regulatory guidelines.

• Discovery Biomarker Academy: In collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and thought leaders, Discovery Biomarker Academy provides expert training for pathologists and technicians to help standardize interpretation of novel companion diagnostic assays. We’ve successfully trained >4,000 pathologists and delivered global training programs for PD-L1, HER2 and MSI.

• Cell and Gene Therapy: We also support cell and gene therapy programs with research use only and GMP-compliant, clinical grade leukapheresis starting materials and analytical services.

What are your competitive advantages?

Our robust biospecimen and biomarker platform is optimized for speed and large scale capacity. We routinely manage hundreds of global studies and expertly test thousands of biospecimens simultaneously. As a one-stop-shop, Discovery Life Sciences offers global biospecimen solutions integrated with biomarker testing and training services for a single chain of custody, eliminating time consuming and inefficient transfers of biospecimens and biomarker data between different vendors. We deliver integrated biospecimen and biomarker solutions, expertly-guided at every step and for every scale.

Who are your clients?

Leading biopharma, smaller biotechs, diagnostic and academic institutions trust us to quickly deliver high-quality biospecimens and associated clinical data as well as reliable, reproducible biomarker data so they can outpace their competition and push the leading edge of innovation.

What new products and services are you developing in 2021?

Discovery is significantly expanding its global tissue biomarker services with our newest acquisition, Targos Molecular Pathology GmbH (Targos), one of the largest immuno-histochemistry (IHC) laboratories in Europe. Targos represents another milestone in Discovery’s European expansion strategy and complements our existing tissue biomarker services.

• Tissue Biomarker Assay Development Expertise: Creates a tissue biomarker assay development and validation powerhouse by combining North American and European pioneers of IHC companion diagnostic assays into a single scientific team supporting clients’ early stage precision oncology programs.

• Global Clinical Trial Support: Provides accurate and reliable tissue biomarker data harmonized globally, so researchers can make strategic development decisions with confidence and navigate clinical trial programs from start to finish using an ever-evolving analytical portfolio from molecular pathology to genomics, from immunophenotyping to digital pathology.

• Pathologist Biomarker Training at Discovery Biomarker Academy: Support post market adoption of new biomarkers by preparing and training a global network of pathologists and technologists in the field for faster adoption of new clinical and companion diagnostic assays.

Where are your laboratories and offices located?

We have biomarker service laboratories in the US and Europe, while our biospecimens are sourced from hundreds of clinical sites in dozens of countries across the globe.

Connect with Discovery Life Sciences