Bio-Rad’s QX600 Droplet Digital PCR System Advancing Measurable Residual Disease Research

HERCULES, Calif.— April 6, 2023 —Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO and BIOb), a global leader in life science research and clinical diagnostic products, is accelerating measurable residual disease (MRD) research through more than a half dozen collaborations with institutions and companies leveraging its new QX600™ Droplet Digital™ PCR System. Launched late last year, it boasts six color detection capable of quantifying 12 targets per well, a simple user workflow, and powerful data analysis. Maintaining Bio-Rad’s best-in-class ddPCR™ technology, this platform utilizes the same droplet generation and processing protocols as the QX200™ system, enabling thousands of current customers to easily adopt its advanced multiplexing capabilities.   

One such collaborator is already planning ways to apply the new QX600 ddPCR System. “The QX600 is an incredibly powerful instrument,” said Gary Pestano, PhD, Chief Development Officer at Biodesix, Inc., who also served as a beta tester. “We anticipate leveraging this tool for rare variant detection as a method of analyzing multiple mutations for MRD and therapeutic response testing for our blood-based oncology offerings. We also expect that this will drive the development of novel, multiplexed assays that were not possible before.”

The introduction of the QX600 ddPCR System expands the company’s family of QX platforms, which currently includes the CE Marked IVDR compliant QX200 system, the FDA-cleared QXDx™ system; and the high-throughput, fully automated QX ONE™ system.  

“Combining high multiplexing power with the proven sensitivity and absolute quantification of ddPCR technology will allow us to obtain greater volumes of high-quality clinical research data without burdening patients, ultimately driving precision medicine forward,” said Boris Wong, MSc, a translational researcher at the University of Melbourne who participated in beta testing for the QX600 ddPCR System earlier this year.

"The QX200 system has been an outstanding workhorse, cited in over 6,300 publications with nearly 1,000 of those focused on oncology,” said Stephen Kulisch, Vice President of Marketing for Bio-Rad's Digital Biology Group. “With the launch of the QX600 system, we’re excited to bring advanced multiplexing and unmatched sensitivity to molecular oncology investigators engaged in everything from biomarker discovery to clinical trials and patient monitoring of MRD.” 

BIO-RAD,  ddPCR, Droplet Digital , QXDx, QX200 and QX600 are trademarks of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. in certain jurisdictions.

About Bio-Rad 

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO and BIOb) is a global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing a broad range of innovative products for the life science research and clinical diagnostic markets. With over 70 years of focus on quality and customer service, our products advance the scientific discovery process and improve healthcare. Our customers are universities, research institutions, hospitals, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, as well as public health and commercial laboratories, including food safety and environmental quality testing facilities. Based in Hercules, California, Bio-Rad has a global network of operations with approximately 8,300 employees worldwide and $2.8 billion in revenues in 2022. For more information, please visit bio-rad.com.

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