Dive Brief:
- Labcorp said this week it expanded its collaboration with Ultima Genomics to explore new clinical applications for whole genome sequencing.
- The laboratory services company will use Ultima’s UG 100, a machine designed to sequence the genome for $100, to assess molecular residual disease (MRD) in early-stage solid tumor patients.
- Labcorp introduced a whole genome sequencing MRD test, Plasma Detect, in April and said the UG 100 could enable the detection of rare variants at low limits with cost-effective workflows.
Dive Insight:
Ultima exited stealth in 2022 after raising around $600 million to create a high-throughput sequencing platform. The goal was to cut the cost of sequencing a genome to $100. In February, Ultima launched UG 100 and priced its wafer and reagent configuration at $2,000. Based on the cost of the materials and the capabilities of the system, the company calculated the machine enables the $100 genome.
The cost could allow diagnostic companies to offer whole genome sequencing tests rather than targeted genetic panels. Targeted panels are a tradeoff between cost and comprehensiveness. Cutting the cost of sequencing could reduce the need for that tradeoff.
Quest Diagnostics struck a deal in January to use Ultima equipment to support its Haystack solid-tumor MRD tests, the liquid biopsy technology it acquired for $300 million upfront in 2023. Fluent Biosciences, the single-cell specialist recently acquired by Illumina, has also entered into a partnership with Ultima.
Labcorp said in the partnership announcement that preliminary data show the combination of Ultima’s UG 100 and its Plasma Detect test can “detect rare variants at extremely low limits” while improving sensitivity and specificity and enabling “more efficient, scalable and cost-effective workflows.”
On an April earnings call, Labcorp CEO Adam Schechter said Plasma Detect is “the first clinically validated whole genome sequencing MRD solution for early-stage colon cancer to identify patients at increased risk of reoccurrence after surgery or adjuvant chemotherapy.”
Schechter added that the internally developed test enhanced Labcorp’s liquid biopsy portfolio.