Changes Coming at Omnyx – Developing Story
Nearly 10 years ago GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)entered into a joint venture. The two organizations began a two year collaboration process and founded the company in 2008. Since that time, close collaboration brought to market new innovations in digital pathology, culminating in Dynamyx (TM), which was demonstrated at USCAP this March (see link for my comments).
Today, changes are coming within this joint venture between academia and industry after a 10-year relationship. As I understand it to date, GE Healthcare will support current Omnyx customers. Many of the senior executives within Omnyx have moved on and GE Healthcare will provide resources for necessary support of day-to-day operations.
GE Healthcare Digital Global Communications was kind enough to provide to tissuepathology.com the below statement:
“UPMC and GE Healthcare can confirm plans to exit their joint Omnyx venture, primarily driven by variable global demand. GE will focus its investment strategy in other areas of its digital portfolio, for example the GE Health Cloud. GE Healthcare will support existing customers through this transition and honor contractual commitments. GE Healthcare and UPMC will continue their partnership in other areas of health innovation.”
Having watched this partnership from the inception, the combination of academia and industry working together to move digital pathology forward, combined with many key personnel along the way to move the industry forward, this is sad news. A large healthcare company such as GE entering the digital pathology sandbox when they did was exciting and perhaps validation of the value proposition for digital pathology, combining that with working some of the best and brightest pathologists and key opinion and thought leaders in digital pathology from one institution made their interest and investments even more exciting.
I will keep you abreast of other developments and details as they become available to this news and changes within the digital pathology industry.
