Oct. 9, 2019—Illumina and Qiagen announced a 15-year partnership intended to broaden the availability and use of NGS-based in vitro diagnostic kits, including companion diagnostics, for patient management.
The agreement grants Qiagen nonexclusive rights to develop and globally commercialize IVD kits to be used with Illumina’s MiSeq Dx and NextSeq 550Dx systems and includes rights for expansion of the partnership on future Illumina diagnostic systems. The companies are also exploring opportunities for Qiagen to develop and market companion diagnostics based on Illumina’s TruSight Oncology assays that enable comprehensive genomic profiling of tumor samples in immunotherapy.
“We are committed to expanding the range of clinical use cases addressed by genomic sequencing by enabling partners to deliver IVD tests and companion diagnostics on Illumina’s Dx instruments,” Francis deSouza, CEO of Illumina, said in a company press release. “Our partnership with Qiagen will complement Illumina’s TSO 500 family with additional testing menu options, accelerating NGS adoption in oncology patient management.”
The partnership will initially focus on commercializing oncology IVD kits and may expand to include additional clinical diagnostic fields, such as cardiology, hereditary diseases, infectious diseases, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.