BioAgilytix Boston (formerly Cambridge Biomedical)

Key facts

• The JCI Insight 2022 paper by Mortberg and colleagues states that initial assay development was done by BioAgilytix Boston, then known as Cambridge Biomedical, and that the assay had a full validation for rat CSF compliant with WHO Good Clinical Laboratory Practice.
• After that, the assay was transferred to the Broad Institute, where curve points and reagent concentrations were changed; mouse brain validation and all later studies were done at the Broad.
• The paper reports that the assay meets FDA bioanalytical method validation criteria apart from higher interplate variability near the lower limit of quantification. Two authors list BioAgilytix, Boston as their affiliation.
• The 2019 PNAS paper on human CSF PrP used the commercial BetaPrion ELISA from Analytik Jena and names no contract lab; BioAgilytix and Cambridge Biomedical do not appear in it.
• Cambridge Biomedical was founded in 1997 and offered assay development, validation and clinical-trial testing for biopharma and diagnostics, with CLIA, CAP and GLP credentials, kit production and a PCR suite. Its founder and CEO was Barbara Osband.
• BioAgilytix announced the purchase on 4 November 2019; terms were not disclosed and the combined company had more than 400 staff.
• Ownership has changed several times. GHO Capital held BioAgilytix at the 2019 deal; search excerpts say Cobepa and GHO bought it in 2018 and Cinven agreed in November 2021 to take a majority stake with Cobepa staying as minority investor. These ownership details come from excerpts only.
• Search excerpts say the company has laboratories in Durham, Boston, San Diego, Hamburg, Melbourne and Brisbane, with the Boston site at 1320 Soldiers Field Road.
• The company lists RNA therapeutics among its modalities and offers biomarker assays, assay creation, method transfer and diagnostic testing.
• No public source found names the laboratory that measures CSF PrP in PrProfile; the registry record lists the endpoint as percent change from baseline only.

Timeline

1. 1997Cambridge Biomedical founded in the Boston area.
2. 2019BioAgilytix announces acquisition of Cambridge Biomedical (4 November).
3. 2021Cinven agrees to take a majority stake in BioAgilytix from GHO Capital (17 November announcement per excerpts).
4. 2022Mortberg et al. publish the cross-species PrP assay paper crediting BioAgilytix Boston with initial development (22 March).