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New company to transition healthcare’s last manual diagnostic process into the digital age
BARRINGTON, IL AND PITTSBURGH, PA – June 5, 2008 — Today, GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) announce the formation of a new company that will transition one of healthcare’s last manual diagnostic processes into the digital age.
The new joint company, called Omnyx, LLC, will bring to market digital solutions to shape a new age of patient care to a science that has relied on glass slides and microscopes for over 125 years. Omnyx’s digital platform will enable clinicians to share images virtually, interpret results using advanced algorithms and reduce costs associated with diagnosis. The benefit to patients could include a reduction in medical errors, improved turnaround time for lab results and integrating pathology information as part of his or her electronic medical record. Part of a broader GE initiative to foster innovation, Omnyx is the first standalone company in GE’s history to be formed with an academic medical center, representing an untapped outlet for accelerating ideas to market.
As part of today’s announcements, GE and UPMC have appointed Gene Cartwright, a 26-year healthcare veteran and former president of GE Healthcare’s molecular diagnostics, as Chief Executive Officer of Omnyx. “This new company will revolutionize patient care and expand GE vision for Early Health – the ability to diagnose disease at the earliest possible stage, which in turn can lead to more effective treatment and monitoring,” said Cartwright. “Digitizing pathology will allow Omnyx to provide doctors with better tools for the full care continuum, enhancing their decision-making capabilities in key disease areas.”
The idea of digital pathology took shape when GE researchers developed a prototype that overcame what appeared to be insurmountable barriers for a mainstream product: image quality and speed of scanning slides. Building on early developments in GE’s
This innovative collaboration with GE will help to address the critical cost and quality issues facing healthcare today,” said Jeffrey Romoff, President and Chief Executive Officer, UPMC. “The formation of Omnyx underscores UPMC’s strategy of leveraging its medical, technology and research expertise to create solutions that benefit patients worldwide. At the same time, this new, Pittsburgh-based company will contribute to the continuing revitalization of the economy of western
International and Commercial Services Division.
Omnyx will be located at a new headquarters in
This investment is part of UPMC’s strategy to commercialize its health care, technology and management expertise for the benefit of patients throughout its global health network. UPMC formed a joint development partnership two years ago with GE, which led to the creation of Omnyx. The state of
About the
UPMC is an integrated global health enterprise headquartered in
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat, and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.
GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection, and disease prevention. Headquartered in the