Immunoassay Interferences & Their Impact on Patient Care

In this session our industry experts review how the common immunoassay formats work, how the different types of interference mechanisms cause falsely elevated and suppressed results for each assay format, how these interferences may impact patient care and outcomes, and how current strategies are used to troubleshoot interference.

Presenters:

• Nikola Baumann, PhD, DABCC, Co-Director Central Clinical Laboratory and Central Processing at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN

• Brooke Katzman, PhD, DABCC, Co-Director of the Hospital Clinical Lab and Point of Care Testing at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN

• Pr. Damien Gruson, PhD, EuSpLM, FESC, Chef du Service de Biochimie Médicale in Bruxelles – Belgique

Veravas Featured in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

On June 27, Alex Wittenberg at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal published a profile of Veravas, highlighting both its long-term potential in the billion-dollar IVD market and the upcoming launch of its first suite of products.

“Veravas Inc., founded last year, says it's developed a novel technology with the potential to change the way conditions such as Alzheimer's and sleep apnea are diagnosed. If successful, the company, whose chief lab is in Oakdale, could make a splash in the billion-dollar in-vitro diagnostics market. But first, Veravas plans to take on a narrower issue with a product launch next month: the contamination of blood tests by biotin…”

Veravas is headquartered in Oakdale’s Incubology Center, an important hub for biotech and healthcare innovation in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region. The article included insights from Veravas Chief Scientific Officer Josh Soldo, who elaborated on the issue of biotin interference in diagnostic tests and the impact this can have on patients.

See here for the full article here, titled “Urine test for sleep apnea? Soon, says new Twin Cities diagnostics startup:”

Veravas Announces Appointments of Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Clinical Officer

Company secured more than $2 million in seed funding to support advancement and commercialization of sample prep technology and novel diagnostic tests

Charleston, S.C. and Oakdale, Minn., June 19, 2019 – Veravas, Inc., an emerging diagnostic company, appointed Joshua Soldo as the chief scientific officer and Carmen Wiley, Ph.D., as chief clinical officer. Mr. Soldo and Dr. Wiley have made significant contributions towards the development of Veravas technology and as part of the executive team, they will support the advancement and commercialization of the company’s breakthrough sample prep products and novel diagnostics tests.

“At Veravas, we are working to bring diagnostic solutions to market that will lead a transformation for laboratory medicine focused on delivering superior test results. Josh and Carmen are an invaluable part of this journey – Josh pioneered the nano magnetic technology behind Veravas and Carmen’s collaborative efforts with the scientific and medical communities have further refined our solution to meet the needs of the laboratory industry,” said John Forrest, founder and chief executive officer of Veravas. “I look forward to continuing to collaborate with them to commercialize our technology for improving test precision to ultimately provide clinicians and patients with more confidence in diagnostic results.”‍

Mr. Soldo brings more than 20 years of experience in the diagnostics, life science and health care markets. He is a subject matter expert in assay development and solid phase chemistry with multiple patents and publications. Previously, he had a role in medical and scientific affairs, cardiac at Roche Diagnostics, where he developed and maintained relationships with the medical and scientific community and collaborated with investigators, clinicians, and institutions. In this role, he specialized in comprehensive knowledge in cardiac care and cardiac biomarkers, and applied a broad knowledge of principles, practices, and procedures in the field of cardiology. Prior to this, Mr. Soldo was vice president, scientific affairs at Anteo Diagnostics Limited, where he accelerated the expansion and market penetration of the company’s patented Mix&Go™ product into North America and Europe. Additional roles include corporate director, scientific affairs at DiaSorin and senior development scientist, research and development at Beckman Coulter. Mr. Soldo holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota where he graduated with honors.

“In vitro diagnostics have come a long way in the preceding decades, but due to interferences within patient samples, challenges still remain in ensuring results that patients and physicians receive are as accurate and reliable as possible,” said Mr. Soldo. “I am thrilled to bring my proprietary technology to Veravas and support the vision of improving patient lives by minimizing unnecessary treatments associated with poor quality diagnostic results.”‍

Dr. Wiley is a highly-recognized clinical leader in chemistry and laboratory medicine who brings more than 18 years of experience in clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. She is currently the President of American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). Prior to Veravas, she was a regional manager of scientific affairs at Roche Diagnostics. In this role, she supported scientific information exchange in the area of cardiac biomarkers and was responsible for leading relationship development with the medical and scientific communities. Prior to this, Dr. Wiley was the scientific director at Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories where she had medical and scientific oversight responsibilities for all laboratory testing and research and development. Other roles include co-director of chemistry, immunology, and point of care at Providence Health and Services, Sacred Heart Hospital, and head of clinical chemistry in the division of laboratory medicine and pathology at the Marshfield Clinic. Dr. Wiley earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Minnesota, where she graduated with honors, and her master and doctoral degrees in organic chemistry from University of Washington, and was a COMACC Accredited Fellow at the Mayo School of Medicine. She is board certified by American Board of Clinical Chemistry and a Fellow of the Academy of AACC.

“There is so much opportunity to improve diagnosis for a number of diseases that have very low levels of detectable biomarkers,” said Dr. Wiley. “Veravas’ nano magnetic particles offer a solution for identifying and accurately quantifying these low abundance biomarkers, which could help develop clinically relevant assays for diseases that have traditionally been difficult to diagnose. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with the diagnostics community as an executive team member at Veravas and bringing these innovations to scientists, clinicians, and patients.”

To date, the company has secured more than $2 million in seed funding and is preparing to launch its first suite of products.‍

About Veravas
‍Veravas is transforming laboratory medicine with technology that delivers superior test results, providing confidence to clinicians and patients that diagnoses are accurate. The company is rapidly driving the commercialization of proprietary sample preparation products and new diagnostic tests. Veravas’ nano magnetic particles can identify, remove, and measure select substances from patient samples to reduce the effects of complex interferences and detect low-abundance biomarkers. Led by a passionate and dedicated team, Veravas is devoted to improving patient lives by minimizing the harmful effects of unnecessary treatments and deaths associated with poor quality diagnostic results. Because every patient deserves the correct result, every time. To learn more about our technologies and clinical applications, visit veravas.com.

Media Contact
‍Christina Creager
Veravas
‍media@veravas.com
(612) 587-2733