News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Illumina Asserts Its Claim of a $1,000 Whole Human Genome, But Is Gene Sequencing Ready for Use by Clinical Pathology Laboratories?

This price includes all costs except overhead, but without a high volume of customers, Illumina’s $10-million price for the HiSeq X Ten machine may not be a wise investment

Competition continues to be fierce in the race to the $1,000 whole human genome. Most recently, Illumina announced the availability of its latest gene sequencing system, along with the claim that it can deliver a whole human genome at a cost of just $1,000. But, as most pathologists know, the devil is in the details, since not every Illumina customer is likely to achieve that price point.

When Illumina, a San Diego-based technology company, announced its new HiSeq X Ten genetic-sequencing machine in December, 2013, Illumina CEO Jay T. Flatley claimed the company’s system can deliver “full-coverage human genome sequences for less than $1,000,” down from $500 million 10 years ago. The new system is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2014.

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Illumina Is Using Acquisitions to Challenge Roche in Fast-growing Market for Gene-based Clinical Pathology Laboratory Testing

Hot competition for genetic testing market share is a signal to medical laboratories to ramp up their molecular and genetic testing capabilities

Financial analysts see something of an “old west” style shootout on the horizon for genetic testing in the clinical laboratory testing market. Market leaders in next-generation gene sequencing are prepared to use acquisitions to build dominant shares in a gene testing market that experts say could hit $25 billion by 2022.

Reporters at Bloomberg Businessweek believe that San Diego-based Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) is girding up to take on industry giant Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX). Both Illumina and Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE) are buying up smaller players in the gene testing market.

These two market leaders in DNA sequencing equipment have played important roles in revolutionizing genetic testing. Now, they intend to stake out a share of the fast-growing genetic diagnostics market themselves, a recent Businessweek story reported. (more…)

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