Illumina Buys Solexa
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
The $600 million Illumina is paying to acquire next-generation sequencing company Solexa says more about current market drivers and meeting Illumina's immediate need for growth than it does about the technology's future application as a means of achieving the oft-touted goal of the $1,000 genome sequence.
You may also be interested in...
Roche Pounces On Market-Weakened Illumina
Roche’s $5.7 billion hostile takeover offer for Illumina is opportunistic as well as strategic. It is a validation of Illumina’s long-term growth potential but also takes advantage of a depressed stock price due to the global economic slowdown and cutbacks in government funding that have hurt Illumina and other providers of gene sequencing instrumentation.
BGI Touts Eventual Merck Deal
Beijing Genomics and Merck intend to collaborate, using BGI resources primarily to analyze genomic and epigenetic data off of Merck samples. The announcement was more than just a shot across the bow signaling BGI's intent to dominate the gene sequencing services world. It could eventually extend into the clinical arena, which could open up another whole new collaborative - and competitive - area with the West.
The How And When Of Applying Sequencing To Clinical Diagnostics
Gene sequencing instrument providers are currently at the center of a range of corporate activities: acquisition, partnering, financing. As technology innovation continues, costs decrease, and the pace and scope of clinical genomic studies picks up, the notion of sequencing as the foundation for a clinical diagnostics platform is gaining more support. Delivering value to diagnostics customers ultimately may demand that instrument providers move downstream, involving themselves in data analysis and workflow and even test development, to prime the clinical market.