HTX scores global first:
GE pathology imaging centre
As we all know, there has been a lot of discussion lately about Canada’s track record on innovation and productivity. By now, most of us have heard that the Conference Board of Canada’s latest report gave Canada a failling grade on innovation. We’re 14^th among 17 peer countries in the OECD. HTX announced an agreement to establish GE's first global Pathology Imaging Centre of Excellence in Toronto, Ontario. GE Healthcare and its digital pathology joint venture, Omnyx™, will invest $7.75M along with a $2.25M grant from the Health Technology Exchange (HTX).  Planned collaborative research and development (R&D) partnerships will bring an additional $7.2M, for a total investment of $17.2M over the next 3 years.

This is the first project to be supported by HTX under the Ontario Flagship Program, which is designed to attract and anchor multinational-led advanced-stage product development projects in Ontario. In addition to HTX's incentive funding, GE was attracted by Ontario's outstanding imaging R&D assets and infrastructure to support design, development, validation, and deployment for anchoring a global digital pathology (DP) initiative. The Centre will advance both the technology and adoption of DP solutions, for pathologists world-wide. 

HTX is a key partner in the Ontario government's Life Sciences Commercialization Strategy. The overarching Health Technology Commercialization Program (HTCP) created by HTX was made possible by a $21.4M funding commitment from the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Research and Innovation. The purpose of the program is to strengthen Ontario's medtech cluster by providing early stage company financing, and incentives for multinationals to strengthen their business cases for anchoring global development mandates in Ontario. 

Today's announcement builds on the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding signed by GE and the Ontario Government to partner and invest long-term within the province. The creation of the Centre is a demonstration of that commitment, which will help further economic development, create 15 new jobs and promote R&D within Ontario.

BENEFITS TO ONTARIO
HTX anticipates significant returns from this initial Ontario Flagship Program investment including:
- Critical improvements in pathology and patient care;
- Translation of Ontario's extensive medtech expertise and know-how into products carried world-wide;
- High-value Ontario job creation, both during and after the funding period;
- The Centre will be an outstanding platform for new company formation from across the province.
 

QUOTES
"This innovative technology will improve health care for Ontarians by ensuring diagnoses are accurate, consistent and delivered as quickly as possible. It will also help position Ontario as one of the world's top imaging clusters, attracting new companies in the field and creating high-paying jobs," said Glen Murray, Minister of Research and Innovation.

"The Omnyx™ joint venture was inspired in 2008 by a ground-breaking discovery at GE's Global Research Centre.  The breakthrough technology is part of our global $6 billion healthymagination initiative to improve cost, quality and access in healthcare. Our partnership with the Ontario government has facilitated today's investment," said John Rice, Vice Chairman, President & CEO, Global Growth & Operations, GE. 

John Soloninka, HTX President & CEO, observed:  "The Centre is a perfect example of how HTX funding can facilitate medtech investment and job growth in Ontario. There is an incredible opportunity for Ontario to support the transformation of pathology with the global leader in this emerging field. We are in discussions with several other MNEs about how they too can gain commercialization advantage through Ontario." 

About HTX
From Invention through to Innovation to International Invoice, HTX funding programs and services support emerging and established Ontario-based companies to develop, produce and commercialize innovative market-leading advanced health technologies. For more information about this and other HTX programs, visit www.htx.ca. HTX is a member of the Ontario Network of Excellence  www.oneinnovation.ca.
 

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit www.gehealthcare.com.
 

About Omnyx
Omnyx, LLC is a joint venture of GE Healthcare and The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with locations in Pittsburgh, PA and Piscataway, NJ. The company is developing an enterprise platform to transform the scope of pathology to an all-digital workflow. Omnyx will sell its digital pathology platform to clinical labs and offer an enterprise software platform for image management, workflow automation, image analysis algorithms and system integration along with its high speed whole-slide scanners. Close collaboration with pathologists at UPMC and other institutions along with their relationship with GE Healthcare allows Omnyx to focus its innovation on the needs of anatomic pathologists worldwide. Omnyx digital pathology products are currently in development and have not yet been cleared by the US FDA or licensed by Health Canada.