Tagomics’ agreement with Agilent Technologies puts Interlace platform on front foot

Tagomics’ partnership with Agilent Technologies, announced last week, marks a pivotal moment for the developers of Interlace, a novel multiomics platform for comprehensive disease insight and diagnosis.

The platform seamlessly combines “omics” technologies – including genomics (detecting mutations), epigenomics (studying chemical ‘switches’ on the genome), and fragmentomics (the analysis of DNA fragmentation patterns in the blood) – in a single, cost-effective, low-input, and automatable workflow.

By leveraging this unique approach to epigenetic profiling, the platform unlocks disease-associated DNA biomarkers from a range of biological sources.

As well as developing its diagnostic solutions, Tagomics is also forming strategic partnerships with selected pharmaceutical and biotech companies, plus research institutions, to develop and apply its next-generation biomarker discovery and diagnostic technologies.

The company spun out from the University of Birmingham in July 2020, building on the pivotal research led by Dr Robert Neely, now chief scientific officer. With Dr Jack Kennefick on board as CEO and co-founder, Tagomics is developing a 360° understanding of human health and disease. Its goal is to discover new markers of cancer and develop strategic partnerships, advancing drug development and therapy selection for patients.

Dr Robert Neely, CSO, Tagomics, said: “My group have been working on the biochemistry that underpins Tagomics for over a decade.

“Jack Kennefick, CEO, was a PhD student in my group and worked on the development of the technology that is the forerunner to Tagomics’ platform. We filed two patent applications with Birmingham in 2019, relating to the technology we developed for tagging DNA, and Jack led commercialisation efforts from there, initially supported by the ICURe programme (Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research).

“Jack went around the world, talking to leaders in the biotech industry with ICURe, which was absolutely transformative in showing us what could be done with the technology we developed. From there, Jack drove efforts to spin out of Birmingham. We were supported in this by Cambridge-based investors Start Codon and IQ Capital, and finally signed the spin-out agreement with all parties in May 2021. [The £1.6m pre-seed round included grant funding from Innovate UK.]

“A small team of around four of us built the company from there in Birmingham, with initial efforts showing the promise of the platform for the early detection of disease. We relocated to the Illumina Ventures Labs at Granta Park, when we secured seed funding in February 2024.”

Tagomics is the first company to occupy the new Illumina Ventures’ Labs space in Cambridge. The Labs provide a unique advantage to accelerate value creation for genomics start-ups, from company formation to Series A financings, via access to capital, sequencing, mentorship, and fully-equipped genomics lab capabilities.

The February 2024 funding round raised £6.7m and was led by Calculus Capital, with participation from Illumina Ventures, IQ Capital, Agilent Ventures, Mercia Ventures and the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia Ventures and is part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), Meltwind and OMX Ventures.

Agilent Technologies, which is based in Santa Clara, California, provides comprehensive solutions for targeted genomic profiling. The exclusive agreement with Agilent will see samples sent to Tagomics for analysis, and allows Agilent to provide customers with a single, unified workflow for comprehensive genomic profiling and genome-wide epigenetic analysis.

Ronda Allen, general manager of genomics at Agilent Technologies, said: “Through our agreement, our customers will have access to Tagomics’ Interlace platform and advanced bioinformatics software, enabling simultaneous genetic and genome-wide epigenomic profiling.”

Dr Jack Kennefick, CEO and co-founder of Tagomics, said: “We’re pleased to be working with Agilent Technologies to bring select customers the combined capabilities of our respective platforms, unified in Tagomics’ Interlace multiomic workflow. Through this collaboration, we look forward to empowering customers with deeper biological insights and accelerating the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic solutions.”

The co-marketing agreement allows Agilent to experience the enhanced capabilities of the combined platform ahead of the broader market, delivering more comprehensive insights into the mechanisms driving disease, opening the door to novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

After the early access programme, Tagomics is looking to roll out full access in 2025. Through the programme, Tagomics is empowering diagnostic companies who wish to incorporate multiomic analysis into their assays to deliver more comprehensive clinical insights.

Debora Lucarelli, Tagomics’ CTO, joined the company in March. She had been CEO at Enhanc3D Genomics for the previous three years.

“We are very excited to be working with Agilent Technologies on this joint solution – providing both pharma and diagnostic companies access to our novel multiomic approach,” Debora told the Cambridge Independent. “We have seamlessly integrated the Agilent SureSelect Library Preparation and Target Enrichment System into our Interlace workflow, delivering unparalleled biological insights for biomarker discovery, diagnostic development, and precision medicine applications.

“Given Agilent’s position as a world-renowned leader in developing and marketing NGS solutions, this partnership is a testament to the huge potential of our platform to transform genomic and epigenetic profiling.”