The new tissue typing platform, including Real-Time PCR instrumentation, will be installed and adopted by various laboratories across the country.
Dr. Andrea Harmer, National Head of NHS Blood and Transplant H&I Services, said, "At NHS Blood and Transplant, we were looking for the best technology available for our rapid typing requirements.
“We developed a comprehensive matrix to evaluate multiple platforms and were extremely pleased with the results from Linkage Biosciences. The laboratory tests performed by our scientists showed the product to be simple to use, fast, and robust."
"We are excited to partner with NHS Blood and Transplant and support the fast-growing adoption of LinkSeq tissue typing technology," said Zachary Antovich, Chief Executive Officer of Linkage Biosciences.
"The technical advantages of LinkSeq, as supported by all the necessary evidence during the evaluation period, clearly established the superiority of our offering. The decision of the UK's NHS Blood and Transplant to select our product is the outcome of a thorough evaluation of the competitive landscape and we suspect other nations will view this tender as a benchmark for their own assessment."
LinkSeq offers a dramatically simplified workflow for detecting Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genes associated with tissue compatibility for organ transplantation.
With less than 10 minutes of set-up and no further operator intervention, LinkSeq provides complete molecular genotyping results in as little as 90 minutes. Its simple workflow avoids post-amplification contamination, as well as allowing rapid turnaround time and increased laboratory productivity.
Since its introduction in 2011, LinkSeq technology has been adopted by more than 140 laboratories across four continents. The company received regulatory approval in Europe in 2015.
NHS Blood and Transplant is a joint England and Wales Special Health Authority. It is responsible for ensuring a safe and efficient supply of blood and associated services to the NHS in England.
It is also the organ donation organization for the UK and is responsible for matching and allocating donated organs.
Linkage Biosciences is a molecular diagnostics company developing and marketing products that dramatically improve and expedite complex genetic testing. LinkSeq is the company's flagship technology, covering all classical HLA genes and over 13,000 alleles in a single test.
