TORONTO, Feb. 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GeneNews Limited ("GeneNews" or the "Company") (TSX:GEN) today a provided a progress update on its U.S. joint venture, Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory LLP ("IDL").
"With a limited scale launch of IDL's lab operations being successfully completed in the fourth quarter of 2013, full scale-up activities began in Q1-2014, including growing IDL's test processing capacity, increasing the size and scope of its sales organization and expanding the menu of novel, proprietary tests offered by it throughout the United States," commented GeneNews' Executive Chairman, James Howard-Tripp. "Now, moving into 2015, we are starting to make significant progress on a number of additional fronts."
Over the course of the past few weeks, some vital functions that were previously being externally managed by one of the joint-venture partners, such as lab operations, human resources, finance, marketing and reimbursement, have been brought in-house at IDL. In support of that, IDL is also well along in its efforts to enhance its internal leadership team through the recruitment of a Chief Scientific Officer and a Chief Reimbursement Officer.
"While GeneNews will continue to fuel IDL's growth through internal pipeline development, third-party licenses and potential acquisitions of novel, proprietary tests, it was always our intent to have the joint venture evolve into a self-sufficient company," continued Mr. Howard-Tripp. "By providing it with new internal management talent, IDL will be able to increase its focus on commercialization, better positioning it to maximize the significant opportunity that we see ahead of it."
In addition, after making a number of refinements to its sales organization in the second half of 2014, including some limited personnel changes and a re-deployment of resources toward those local markets that have been identified as having the greatest potential for commercial success, IDL has recently begun to increase the size of its sales force with the objective of increased reach and frequency.
"As an early cancer diagnostic laboratory, our sales and marketing effort is focused on primary care specialists in the United States," said Mr. Howard-Tripp. "Being able to offer those physicians and their patients an expanding menu of advanced cancer tests will be key to our success. To that end, final preparations are now being made to launch the sphingotest® breast cancer risk prediction assays early in the second quarter. As always, we will continue to update our stakeholders as we progress."
About GeneNews
GeneNews is focused on developing and commercializing proprietary molecular diagnostic tests for the early detection of diseases and personalized health management, with a primary focus on cancer-related indications. The Company's lead product, ColonSentry®, is the world's first blood test to assess an individual's current risk for colorectal cancer. In 2013, GeneNews created a U.S. joint venture, Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory, LLP ("IDL"), that it is committed to help become a leader in molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine, serving as a strong commercialization outlet for advanced cancer tests. Taking a multi-view approach to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, IDL is working to assemble, through a combination of internal pipeline development, third-party licenses and potential acquisitions, a robust menu of novel, proprietary tests to be offered by it throughout the United States. GeneNews' common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol 'GEN'. More information on GeneNews and IDL can be found at www.GeneNews.com and www.MyInnovativeLab.com, respectively.