“Their approaches to whole-slide analysis and commitment to quantitative pathology makes a perfect partner with IHCtech’s expertise in high-quality histology and immunohistochemistry,” she says. “We enthusiastically look to further innovation by evaluating all aspects of the tissue chain—tissue procurement, fixation and processing, with the ability to measure with whole-slide analysis how each of these steps contribute to variability in the overall process.”  

 

Potts notes that “most of these 350 antibodies are things the clinic has not heard of, although some are ones that will eventually make the clinic in pharma companion diagnostic programs.”  

 

Going forward, Potts says a short-term goal is to integrate all the companies’ digital processes into one histology operation.  

 

“We have a tissue-tracking electronic system similar to the Amazon ‘Where’s My Stuff’ or FedEx tracking—so we know which stage our projects at in—from tissue procurement, to tissue processing, to IHC, to whole-slide scanning, to image analysis and pathologist report and biostatistics,” he says.  

 

The combined companies hope to reinvent how histology is approached, with every change to the tissue standardized and measured with image analysis downstream. “There are a number of exciting innovations we are working on related to new approaches in histology opened by a digital end product,” Potts says.  

 

Potts adds that Flagship continues to consider additional acquisitions that fit into its goal of being the preeminent tissue analysis services company in the pharmaceutical sector.  

 

“There simply are not very many IHC laboratories that have the expertise in discovery IHC that is only developed with years of practices,” he says. “It is far easier to purchase histology equipment than it is to find expert histologists who understand that everything you do to a piece of tissue will affect the end result when it is measured by a computer.”