Agilent has signed a worldwide distribution agreement with Visiopharm to co-market Visiopharm’s CE/IVD-marked artificial intelligence (AI)-driven precision pathology software in addition to Agilent’s automated pathology staining solutions.
With an initial focus on Europe, this agreement marks Agilent's first entry into the growing digital pathology market and strengthens the relationship between the two companies by expanding the scope of their long-term collaboration.
Digital pathology is experiencing rapid growth worldwide, with its adoption expected to double by the end of this decade. As the use of digital pathology increases, AI-driven pathology solutions are emerging as the new standard. These solutions can provide diagnostic decision support and productivity enhancements that enable pathologists to improve diagnostic accuracy and workload management.
This adoption has been accelerated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which has found pathologists increasingly reviewing cases remotely. In the UK, for example, pathologists have received guidance for remote reporting of digital pathology slides in times of exceptional service pressure and support in the adoption of technologies, such as digital pathology, that have the potential to aid in their assessment.
Prior to this announcement, Agilent and Visiopharm have collaborated to validate Visiopharm’s existing HER2 APP to include Agilent’s new HercepTest mAb pharmDx for Dako Omnis, both CE/IVD-marked and available for sale in Europe. Released in October 2020, this product enables pathologists to use the Visiopharm HER2 APP for objective decision support in the assessment of HercepTest mAb pharmDx stained slides, saving valuable time for both pathologists and patients.