Siemens Healthcare has completed the acquisition of Germany-based NEO New Oncology to expand their diagnostics portfolio.

The acquisition of NEO New Oncology will enable Siemens Healthineers venture into the field of next-generation sequencing (NGS) based genomic testing, increasing its capabilities in precision medicine and companion diagnostics.

It will also allow Siemens Healthineers to explore prospects in the field of molecular services, to provide testing and enablement services to physicians, hospitals and laboratories, including access to the latest medical knowledge and technologies.

"The acquisition of NEO New Oncology will allow us to offer high-quality oncology tests and related services for physicians, hospitals and laboratories."

Siemens Healthineers molecular services head Sebastian Kronmueller said: "The acquisition of NEO New Oncology will allow us to offer high-quality oncology tests and related services for physicians, hospitals and laboratories.

"Covering both blood-based and tissue-based genomic tests, we will be able to provide clinically actionable results based on the latest scientific insights.

"We are already working with the NEO New Oncology team and strong partners in research to further broaden our Molecular Services portfolio and to extend our geographic reach by offering the tests in key global markets."

In order to help select targeted cancer therapies, NEO cancer genome diagnostic platform will assist pathologists and oncologists with extensive molecular information.

NEO New Oncology is developing NGS based molecular profiling assays both for tissue specimens and body liquids which includes NEOliquid, a liquid biopsy test to analyse genomic profiles of solid tumours from a simple blood sample.

Technology development of NEO New Oncology also includes its high-quality third generation hybrid capture technology which analyses the circulation of tumour DNA while ensuring accuracy.