Illumina announces new sequencing system, partnership with Roche and Software Suite to accelerate adoption of genomics

Illumina ( ILMN) further demonstrated its commitment to making genomics more accessible for the potential benefit of patients with a series of technology and partnership announcements that further the company’s commitment to unlocking the power of the genome.

The NextSeq 2000 Sequencing System — The latest NGS system from Illumina offers innovative design features, advanced chemistry, simplified bioinformatics, and an intuitive workflow that enable the widest range of applications on a benchtop sequencing system. (Photo: Business Wire)

Speaking at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, Illumina CEO, Francis deSouza, announced a 15-year, non-exclusive collaboration agreement with Roche, one of the world’s diagnostic companies to accelerate the availability of distributable NGS-based in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests on Illumina’s diagnostic (Dx) sequencing systems. Further, Roche will collaborate with Illumina to complement Illumina’s comprehensive pan-cancer assay TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO 500) with new companion diagnostic (CDx) claims. For additional details, please read the full press release on the Illumina News Center.

To support the growing demand for clinical grade genomic information at lower cost, Illumina announced the NextSeq™ 1000 and NextSeq 2000 Sequencing Systems offering breakthrough system design, chemistry innovations and on-instrument integrated informatics for rapid secondary analysis. The new systems incorporate more than 75 innovations, including the never before commercialized combination of super resolution and blue chemistry, that enables a substantial increase in density and throughput as well as a reduction in operating costs.

“We are proud to continue our tradition of driving down the cost of sequencing without compromising accuracy,” said Omead Ostadan, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Products at Illumina. “NextSeq 1000 and 2000 are designed to enable core labs, small to medium research labs and clinical facilities to access high intensity sequencing applications using our industry SBS technology.”

Illumina also announced the development of a regulatory-cleared version of the high-throughput NovaSeq system to address growing demand for a Dx platform to support deeper sequencing at higher throughput. NovaSeqDx extends the company’s portfolio of Dx cleared systems and, ahead of commercial availability targeted for 2022, will be available to IVD partners, including Roche, for content development.

“At Illumina, we are focused on three key areas to scale the reach and impact of genomics—enabling breakthrough genomics research, accelerating the clinical adoption of genomics and delivering fundamentally enabling technology innovations,” said Francis deSouza, Chief Executive Officer at Illumina. “The NextSeq 1000 and 2000 Sequencing Systems, TruSight Software and our partnership with Roche, will accelerate the adoption of research and clinical sequencing for the benefit of humanity.”

Turn-key data analysis solutions also have the ability to facilitate and accelerate clinical adoption. TruSight Software Suite v1.0 delivers ready-made infrastructure to adopt, ramp and realize the full potential of genome sequencing in rare and undiagnosed genetic disease. TruSight Software enables sample-to-report for genetic disease making it easier to access the valuable insights enabled by sequencing with comprehensive variant class analysis for greatest diagnostic yield.

About NextSeq 1000 and NextSeq 2000

The NextSeq 1000 and NextSeq 2000 were designed from the ground-up, with the aim of simplifying workflows and overcoming challenges commonly faced by users of mid-throughput sequencers. The company’s proven sequencing by synthesis (SBS) chemistry, coupled with super resolution optics, an ultrahigh-density flow cell, and versatile informatics solutions, enable NGS discovery power in the most flexible format of any Illumina sequencer to date. Now, any size lab can afford to run tests and experiments more frequently.

Designed to create a user-friendly, end-to-end experience, the NextSeq 1000 and NextSeq 2000 are the first Illumina platforms to integrate DRAGEN on board, powering a flexible informatics suite, featuring both local and cloud-based options for run setup, management and analysis. The unique combination of robust instrument performance and run economics delivers the ability to take on new and emerging applications with speed and accuracy for applications like single cell RNA-seq, ctDNA and a variety of oncology panels. NextSeq 2000 and NextSeq 1000 are the first systems with this new architecture and have a U.S. list price of $335,000 and $210,000, respectively. The NextSeq 2000 is now available for order here and will begin shipping in Q1 2020. The NextSeq 1000 system will begin shipping in Q4 2020.