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Danaher and Leica Biosystems Announce Diagnostic Development and Commercialization Partnership to Scale Precision Medicine

  • Danaher has entered a partnership with AstraZeneca to scale precision medicine, including developing the next generation of AI-powered diagnostics
  • This partnership aims to create a framework for rapid diagnostics research, development and commercialization
  • Danaher, through its Centers for Enabling Precision Medicine, will provide support in all aspects of the development cycle across diagnostic modalities 

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2025 – /PRNewswire/ – Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) (“Danaher”), a global science and technology innovator, announced today the launch of a partnership with AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) to develop and commercialize novel diagnostic tools and tests intended to help clinicians better determine which patients would most benefit from precision medicine treatments.

“Precision medicines are more targeted than standard therapies and thus require precision diagnostics to determine which patients are most likely to benefit,” said Julie Sawyer Montgomery, Danaher Executive Vice President. “We are excited to work with AstraZeneca on the goal of creating novel tests to increase access to precision medicines, helping ensure that no patients are left behind.”

This partnership will utilize the newly opened Danaher Centers for Enabling Precision Medicine to support a more streamlined, end-to-end development process. The first product intended to be developed through this partnership will leverage technologies from Leica Biosystems, one of Danaher’s subsidiaries. The initial focus will be on digital and computational pathology products and AI-assisted algorithms, to help clinicians better diagnose patients by identifying those who are most likely to benefit from targeted therapies.

“The transformative potential of next-wave precision medicines such as antibody-drug conjugates will depend on our ability to identify the patients most likely to benefit from them,” said Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President, Oncology Haematology R&D, AstraZeneca. “Our partnership with Danaher and Leica Biosystems underscores our commitment to pioneering AI-based diagnostics which can improve patient selection, and our belief that collaboration is a critical accelerant for such progress.”

Leica Biosystems has developed leading digital pathology solutions and intends to scale these for use in clinical settings across its footprint of laboratories around the world. To accelerate this digital transformation, the company recently shared its commitment to an open-access Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard, encouraging interoperability for enhanced workflow connectivity.

“At Leica Biosystems, we’ve been driving the new era of digital pathology, where assays that used to be analyzed by the human eye are now also analyzed by digital tools, helping to improve diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic guidance,” said Gustavo Perez-Fernandez, President of Leica Biosystems. “With our global footprint and leading digital pathology platform, we expect to be able to deploy the tests developed with AstraZeneca to patients worldwide, which could significantly advance precision medicine and improve outcomes for patients on a global scale.”

About Danaher

Danaher is a leading global life sciences and diagnostics innovator, committed to accelerating the power of science and technology to improve human health. Our businesses partner closely with customers to solve many of the most important health challenges impacting patients around the world. Danaher’s advanced science and technology – and proven ability to innovate – help enable faster, more accurate diagnoses and help reduce the time and cost needed to sustainably discover, develop and deliver life-changing therapies. Focused on scientific excellence, innovation and continuous improvement, our approximately 63,000 associates worldwide help ensure that Danaher is improving quality of life for billions of people today, while setting the foundation for a healthier, more sustainable tomorrow. Explore more at www.danaher.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including any statements of Danaher or any of its direct or indirect subsidiaries regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things: the impact of tariffs and related actions recently implemented by the U.S. and other countries, the impact of our debt obligations on our operations and liquidity, deterioration of or instability in the global economy, the markets we serve and the financial markets, uncertainties with respect to the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence in our business and products, the impact of global health crises, uncertainties relating to national laws or policies, including laws or policies to protect or promote domestic interests and/or address foreign competition, contractions or growth rates and cyclicality of markets we serve, competition, our ability to develop and successfully market new products and technologies and expand into new markets, the potential for improper conduct by our employees, agents or business partners, our compliance with applicable laws and regulations (including rules relating to off-label marketing and other regulations relating to medical devices and the healthcare industry), the results of our clinical trials and perceptions thereof, our ability to effectively address cost reductions and other changes in the healthcare industry, our ability to successfully identify and consummate appropriate acquisitions and strategic investments, our ability to integrate the businesses we acquire and achieve the anticipated growth, synergies and other benefits of such acquisitions, contingent liabilities and other risks relating to acquisitions, investments, strategic relationships and divestitures (including tax-related and other contingent liabilities relating to past and future IPOs, split-offs or spin-offs), security breaches or other disruptions of our information technology systems or violations of data privacy laws, the impact of our restructuring activities on our ability to grow, risks relating to potential impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, currency exchange rates, tax audits and changes in our tax rate and income tax liabilities, changes in tax laws applicable to multinational companies, litigation, regulatory proceedings and other contingent liabilities including intellectual property and environmental, health and safety matters, the rights of the United States government with respect to our production capacity in times of national emergency or with respect to intellectual property/production capacity developed using government funding, risks relating to product, service or software defects, product liability and recalls, risks relating to our manufacturing operations, the impact of climate change, legal or regulatory measures to address climate change and other sustainability topics and our ability to address regulatory requirements or stakeholder expectations relating to climate change and other sustainability topics, risks relating to fluctuations in the cost and availability of the supplies we use (including commodities) and labor we need for our operations, our relationships with and the performance of our channel partners, uncertainties relating to collaboration arrangements with third-parties, the impact of deregulation on demand for our products and services, labor matters and our ability to recruit, retain and motivate talented employees, U.S. and non-U.S. economic, political, geopolitical, legal, compliance, social and business factors (including the impact of elections, regulatory changes or uncertainty and military conflicts), disruptions and other impacts relating to man-made and natural disasters, inflation and the impact of our By-law exclusive forum provisions. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in our SEC filings, including our 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2025. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and except to the extent required by applicable law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise.

Source: Danaher Corporation

For further information:

For media inquiries: Mary Carmichael, Head of Science & Technology Communications, Danaher Corporation, 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 800W, Washington, D.C. 20037, Email: media@danaher.com

For investor inquiries: John T. Bedford, Vice President, Investor Relations, Danaher Corporation, 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 800W, Washington, D.C. 20037, Telephone: (202) 828-0850, Fax: (202) 828-0860.

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