Merck KGaA has formed a global collaboration agreement with Genea Biomedx, an Australian company specializing in fertility treatments. With this partnership, Merck KGaA receives global marketing and commercialization rights to Genea Biomedx's product portfolio. This comprises Gavi, Geri and Gems product lines for use in the in vitro fertilization laboratories, which are expected to receive CE mark in Europe shortly, as well as a joint development pipeline. Gavi, Geri and Gems are not cleared for use in the United States.

Gavi is a fully-automated vitrification instrument, focusing on lab processes that could reduce potential errors and possibly increase laboratory efficiency in cryopreservation of embryos and in the future for oocytes (eggs). Geri is a benchtop incubator fitted with a time-lapse camera to capture images of embryos as they develop and individually controlled incubation chambers per patient to potentially reduce disruptive events to the early-stage embryo. Gems is the latest generation of Genea's culture media for embryo cultivation.

The collaboration is part of Merck’s strategy to advance its position in fertility treatments. To further strengthen this position, Merck KGaA said it will closely collaborate with Genea Biomedx to jointly develop other innovative technology, products, and services, and the companies have formed a development hub for this effort.

The collaboration is effective from May 1, 2015. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Source: Merck KGaA