Natera, Illumina Renew Prenatal Diagnostics Partnership

By Bio-IT World Staff 

 

September 5, 2013 | Natera and Illumina entered a three-year agreement yesterday dictating that Illumina will supply Natera with the HiSeq 2500 sequencing system and associated consumables for Natera’s Panorama noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT). 

 

Natera’s noninvasive prenatal tests (NIPT) are based on next-generation sequencing of cell-free DNA in maternal plasma. Jonathan Sheena, Natera’s CTO, called the tests “platform agnostic” late last year, but Natera has been using Illumina technology. (see, Natera’s  Prenatal Secret Sauce) The deal is a continuation of Natera’s existing relationship with Illumina.

 

"We are pleased to be selected again as Natera's next-generation sequencing system provider, to support the growth of its Panorama test," said Nick Naclerio, Senior Vice President of Corporate and Venture Development at Illumina in a statement. "Illumina's goal is to enable the rapid growth of NIPT and the broader reproductive health market with technology, products, and ultimately FDA-approved in vitro diagnostic systems."

 

Editor’s Note: Zach Demko, Senior Director of Research & Development at Natera and other leaders in the prenatal diagnostics field will be speaking at CHI’s Advances in Prenatal Molecular Diagnostics Conference, September 23-24 in Boston. For more information, visit www.healthtech.com/prenatal-diagnostics.