Life Technologies said it started taking orders for its “$1,000 genome” device, placing the maker of life sciences tools in a good position in an industry-wide race to build the cheapest and fastest platform for gene sequencing.
The news drove Life’s stock up yesterday by 8 percent, to close at $46.15, while shares of rival Illumina finished up, too. But competitor Complete Genomics saw its shares fall by 25 percent on the Nasdaq.
Industry analysts said the device will put “significant” pressure on Illumina, and they are waiting to see how the platform performs.
Life’s device “is a game-changer and positions Life to capture share from Illumina,” Maxim Group analyst Bryan Brokmeier said.
Life and Illumina are the two biggest public players in the sector, with Illumina commanding nearly 40 percent of the market.
“The [device] is designed to sequence the entire human genome in a day for $1,000, compared with prior durations of weeks and costs of $5,000 to $10,000,” Brokmeier said.
The “$1,000 genome” has long been an industry buzzword, with companies racing to get their own device that would drastically reduce the cost and time of gene sequencing, paving the way for greater commercial adoption.
Life’s device will be sold for between $99,000 and $149,000, making it more affordable for large medical practices or clinics. Existing sequencers cost up to $750,000.
Smaller firms such as Complete Genomics and Pacific Biosciences of California, known for their aggressive pricing, led the drive to lower costs, but industry analysts have been skeptical of the accuracy of their tests.
– Reuters
The news drove Life’s stock up yesterday by 8 percent, to close at $46.15, while shares of rival Illumina finished up, too. But competitor Complete Genomics saw its shares fall by 25 percent on the Nasdaq.
Industry analysts said the device will put “significant” pressure on Illumina, and they are waiting to see how the platform performs.
Life’s device “is a game-changer and positions Life to capture share from Illumina,” Maxim Group analyst Bryan Brokmeier said.
Life and Illumina are the two biggest public players in the sector, with Illumina commanding nearly 40 percent of the market.
“The [device] is designed to sequence the entire human genome in a day for $1,000, compared with prior durations of weeks and costs of $5,000 to $10,000,” Brokmeier said.
The “$1,000 genome” has long been an industry buzzword, with companies racing to get their own device that would drastically reduce the cost and time of gene sequencing, paving the way for greater commercial adoption.
Life’s device will be sold for between $99,000 and $149,000, making it more affordable for large medical practices or clinics. Existing sequencers cost up to $750,000.
Smaller firms such as Complete Genomics and Pacific Biosciences of California, known for their aggressive pricing, led the drive to lower costs, but industry analysts have been skeptical of the accuracy of their tests.
– Reuters
