Verinata, Illumina Sign Supply Agreement for Prenatal Diagnostics

(San Carlos, CA, USA), a privately-held company dedicated to maternal and fetal health, has entered into a three year supply agreement with Illumina (San Diego, CA, USA) in the field of noninvasive prenatal diagnostics. Illumina develops and manufactures life sciences tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function.

Verinata Health will purchase Illumina's sequencing instruments and consumables for use in the commercialization of noninvasive prenatal testing for the detection of multiple aneuploidies. The companies will collaborate toward gaining regulatory approval for the testing service.

Verinata's initial focus is to develop and offer noninvasive tests for early identification of fetal chromosomal abnormalities. The company aims to reduce the anxiety associated with today's multistep [prenatal screening] process, the unacceptable false-positive rates, the nonspecific and sometimes confusing results of current prenatal screening methods, as well as the risk of current invasive procedures.

Caren Mason, CEO of Verinata Health commented, "With our proprietary technology and Illumina's sequencing prowess, it is our intention to advance and improve the testing methods of today for the determination of fetal aneuploidy. This supply agreement is designed to provide uninterrupted access to Illumina's HiSeq 2000 sequencing instrument and consumables including certain updates and improvements applied to current technology."

Illumina provides sequencing and array-based solutions for genotyping, copy number variation analysis, methylation studies, gene expression profiling, and low-multiplex analysis of DNA, RNA, and protein.

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