Leica Biosystems Supports Global Renal Consortium Dedicated to Quantitative Pathology and Collaboration Using Aperio Digital Pathology

VISTA, CA, Nov. 20, 2015 /CNW/ - Leica Biosystems is pleased to announce its support of the INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL NEPHROPATHOLOGY NETWORK (INTEGRATE), a world wide collaborative effort of three (3) consortia: NEPTUNE, EURenOmics and China-DiKip, focused on the standardization of the renal biopsy profile made possible by Aperio Digital Pathology through its slide hosting platform. In an effort to fight renal diseases, the INTEGRATE alliance of distinguished thought leaders in nephrology and pathology came together to discuss the standardization of pathology scoring processes for globalization of the renal biopsy assessment. The first symposia were held in San Diego, CA, early November, in conjunction with the American Society of Nephrology conference.

"Digital pathology is a powerful technology, enabling global collaboration, webinar-based intra- and inter-consortia cross training and consensus review, standardization of morphologic assessment and streamlining image analysis," said Dr. Laura Barisoni a leading pathologist at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine and co-founder of INTEGRATE. "In the era of personalized and precision medicine, the application of the descriptor based morphologic profiling across multiple consortia allows collection of reproducible quantitative pathology data for precision pathology on a large scale."

INTEGRATE has established a method for standardization of renal biopsy interpretation using the Aperio whole slide image (WSI) platform, which will aid in the globalization of nephropathology analysis. "Whether performing biomarker discovery, drug safety or toxpath studies, Aperio ePathology  has helped pharmaceutical organizations and their partners to achieve greater study efficiencies by establishing global collaborative networks for peer reviews, and rapidly speeding up image analysis (IA) with even greater data accuracy," stated Puneet Sarin, vice president and general manager of Leica Biosystems Pathology Imaging Business. "Research conducted by the NEPTUNE pathology team, the first of the INTEGRATE consortia applying digital review of renal biopsies, concluded that digital pathology methods increase data accuracy and reproducibility, while enabling a permanent record of accessible data with full transparency during the course of a study."

The cost and time to bring new drugs to market is staggering. In spite of extensive research work, the success rate of late stage trials is only approximately 50% (Forbes Pharma & Healthcare, on-line edition 2015). INTEGRATE, with its use of Aperio Solutions, represents a consortium model to address today's biopharma challenges helping to drive more efficient innovation by reducing costs, improving accuracy, and decreasing study turnaround times.

For more information on digital pathology, go to: LeicaBiosystems.com/Aperio. For information about the INTEGRATE consortium, please contact the respective organizations at the following addresses:
Neptune: http://rarediseasesnetwork.org/cms/NEPTUNE, EURenOmics: http://eurenomics.eu/, and China-DiKip: http://www.njszb.com.

About Leica Biosystems 

Leica Biosystems is a global leader in workflow solutions and automation, striving to advance cancer research and diagnostics to improve patients' lives. Leica Biosystems provides anatomic pathology laboratories and researchers a comprehensive product range for each step in the pathology process, from sample preparation and staining to imaging and reporting. The company is represented in over 100 countries. It has manufacturing facilities in seven countries, sales and service organizations in 19 countries, and an international network of dealers. The company is headquartered in Nussloch, Germany. Further information can be found at http://www.LeicaBiosystems.com

SOURCE Leica Biosystems

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