Dive Brief:
- Ultima Genomics and Genome Insight said they have agreed to collaborate on lowering the cost of whole genome sequencing for cancer patients.
- Under the partnership announced this week, Genome Insight will join Ultima Genomics’ early access program for its next generation sequencing (NGS) instrument platform, called the UG 100, and develop whole genome bioinformatics for the Ultima technology.
- Ultima last year unveiled a high-throughput sequencing platform, backed by $600 million in financing from investors, designed to produce genomic data files at a price to customers of $100 a piece.
Dive Insight:
A number of companies are racing to develop technologies intended to lower the cost of gene sequencing and bring targeted treatments to more cancer patients.
Illumina, which dominates the sequencing market, last fall introduced a new machine designed to reduce the cost of sequencing a genome to $200.
Conventional NGS approaches typically use targeted panels that examine just a fraction of a patient’s genomic information, Ultima said. Analysis of the whole genome can provide more insights for physicians in formulating a treatment strategy for each patient.
Combining Genome Insight's bioinformatics with Ultima's high-throughput, low-cost sequencing architecture will enable delivery of whole genome sequencing reports for patients at a cheaper cost than conventional NGS panels, the companies said.
“Ultima’s reason for being, and our vision, is to bring down the cost of genomic information because we believe that just as in other areas, like we've seen in information technology, once the information becomes more cheap, just like in computing, it becomes more ubiquitous, and we in society are able to benefit from it more generally,” Josh Lauer, chief commercial officer of Ultima Genomics, said in an interview.
“Our singular mission is to bring that cost down so that leaders in the space like Genome Insight can do more with that information,” he added.
