Next-Gen Sequencing Update: Sequencing for Thousands, Suing for Millions
It is shaping up to be an eventful fourth quarter for genomic sequencing companies. Investors welcomed sequencing newcomer Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) to the public stage with a strong initial public offering (IPO). According to The Wall Street Journal, the company managed “the first U.S. life-sciences [IPO] this year to price well and trade higher” (although the stock has since traded down somewhat). Up next: another next-gen sequencing IPO with Complete Genomics (CGI) expected to follow PacBio into the public market as early as tomorrow.1
The past few weeks have also seen strong third quarter earnings reports from market leaders Illumina (earnings recap) and Life Technologies (earnings recap), with both companies touting double-digit growth in their next-generation sequencing businesses. Illumina and Life Technologies (Life) are also hard at work on their next generation of products which are intended to compete more directly with the offerings from PacBio and CGI (Oxford Nanopore for Illumina, Ion Torrent and Starlight for Life). Meanwhile, China’s own sequencing entrant, BGI, continues to buy up sequencers (first from Illumina, more recently from Life), and what will soon become the world’s largest provider of genomic sequencing has its own ambitious plans.
GLR Update: In The Battle for Sequencing Supremacy, is 128 > $10,000?
The biggest industry developments last week were being announced at J.P. Morgan’s 28th Annual Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. The Genomics Law Report covered Illumina’s announcement of its new next-generation genomic sequencing machine (Another Stop on the Road to the $1,000 Genome), the HiSeq 2000, which promises to sequence an entire genome in one week for $10,000. Illumina’s $10,000 price point represents a new commercial sequencing benchmark, but it is unlikely to deter the company’s competitors. Those include sequencing-as-a-service provider Complete Genomics, which followed up Illumina’s announcement with one of its own, declaring that it plans to sequence up to one million human genomes worldwide over the next five years.
I’ve discussed previously the importance of analyzing just what you get when you purchase a whole-genome sequence. Illumina’s $10,000 genome does not include the cost of the machine or the necessary data analysis, whereas Complete Genomics offers human genome sequences starting at $20,000 while providing its own hardware and data analysis. However, as Matthew Herper of Forbes pointed out last week, the real number to pay attention to in Illumina’s announcement may have been 128—the number of new Illumina machines that BGI committed to buy—and not $10,000. As this recent survey of research labs by In Sequence suggests, current or so-called “second-generation” sequencing platforms, including the one utilized by the HiSeq 2000, continue to make inroads into sequencing centers worldwide, posing an obstacle to Complete Genomics and other newcomers attempting to crack the genomic sequencing space that might not be overcome on price alone.
Another Stop on the Road to the $1,000 Genome
The latest stop on the road to the $1,000 genome? San Francisco, CA, where J.P. Morgan’s 28th Annual Healthcare Conference is in full swing. There is an abundance of real-time Twitter coverage from the conference, but certain announcements warrant a more detailed discussion.
The announcement generating the biggest buzz today came from Illumina, Inc., whose CEO Jay Flatley unveiled a new genome sequencing machine, the HiSeq 2000. According to Matthew Herper of Forbes.com, Illumina’s new machine “will decode a person’s DNA in one week using $10,000 worth of materials – five times cheaper than any other competing gadget on the market.” Herper adds that the machines will begin shipping in February with a cost of $690,000 (compared to $500,000 for Illumina’s current model). Illumina’s own product page for the HiSeq 2000 provides more technical details, including coverage (~30x) and read length (2×100 bp). There have also been unconfirmed rumors that the machine will come equipped with an iPhone user interface, a concept that Flatley first pitched at last summer’s Consumer Genetics Show.
If it performs as advertised, the HiSeq 2000 is likely to be a huge hit with large genome sequencing centers, as evidenced by the announcement that the BGI (formerly the Beijing Genomics Institute) has agreed to purchase a whopping 128 of the new sequencing systems. But what, if anything, does the Illumina announcement mean for individuals consumers interested in receiving a complete genomic sequence?
