Firms Take Positions In Prenatal Test Market

Instrumentation and diagnostics firms are jockeying for position in the rapidly growing market for noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT). Placing a bet, Roche has acquired Ariosa Diagnostics, a privately held, California-based firm that offers molecular diagnostics testing services based on cell-free DNA technology. Meanwhile, Illumina has settled intellectual property disputes with Sequenom. The two companies will pool their owned and in-licensed IP related to NIPT, as well as share revenues arising from the pool. Illumina will have exclusive rights to use the IP to develop and sell in vitro diagnostic kits for NIPT and to license it to third parties. Sequenom will receive royalties on these sales, along with a $50 million up-front payment and instruments and reagents for five years, from Illumina.