Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and Visiopharm today announced that they have entered a co-marketing agreement. The announcement is happening at the USCAP 109th Annual Meeting being held February 29 through March 5, 2020, in Los Angeles, CA.

Based on a joint vision of end-to-end quality and standardization of tissue diagnostics, the partnership will address the currently unmet needs of pathology labs around the world. The companies’ shared goal is to provide specific technologies, produ­­cts, and services that will improve the standardization of pathology labs and accelerate accurate diagnoses.

Agilent and Visiopharm will co-market Visiopharm’s portfolio of artificial intelligence-driven pathology solutions.

“This partnership is an exciting step in our shared commitment in the fight against cancer,” said Simon Østergaard, Agilent vice president and general manager of the company’s pathology group. “Agilent’s market-leading portfolio of pathology staining management solutions combined with Visiopharm’s digital interpretation solutions will help facilitate improved patient care and diagnostic accuracy. Together we will tackle some of the most critical challenges faced by pathology labs and pave the way toward the fully digitalized lab of the future.”

“The transformation into next-generation precision pathology is important to realize the full potential of tissue pathology in this dawning era of personalized medicine,” said Michael Grunkin, CEO of Visiopharm. “This transformation requires a holistic approach to standardization along the entire diagnostic journey from biopsy to diagnosis. We are excited to be working with Agilent on precisely that. With their complementary product portfolio and longstanding legacy of innovation and quality in this field, we see a very strong match.”

The co-marketing relationship will result in offerings that will improve the standardization of pathology labs and accelerate accurate diagnoses for their patients. Digital pathology is the future, although many labs have waited to adopt it due to the lack of choices currently available and the expense of adoption. This effort will enable labs to gradually adopt digital technologies in a flexible and scalable manner.