NEW YORK, Oct 6 – DNAPrint Genomics has agreed to purchase a high-throughput SNP scoring system from Orchid BioSciences, the companies announced today.
The SNPstream system enables researchers to analyze up to 25,000 SNPs per day, using direct assays with its proprietary SNP-IT biochemistries and software. It costs roughly $500,000, with additional charges for consumables, Barbara Lindheim, Orchid’s Vice President of Strategic Communications said.
Under terms of the agreement, DNAPrint will make a single upfront payment to Orchid and will purchase SNPware consumables on a per unit basis. Other details of the agreement were not disclosed.
The DNAPrint deal is Orchid’s second publicly announced sale of a SNPstream this year. In July, Orchid announced that Bristol-Myers Squibb had purchased a system from it. Monsanto and Smithkline have also used the system, and a total of 11 SNPstreams are up and running, Lindheim said.
DNAPrint Genomics plans to use the SNPstream to perform genotyping for genomic researchers involved in determining the role of genetic variations in drug metabolism and in other aspects of personalized medicine.
DNA Print also seriously considered but decided against buying a more expensive SNP analysis system from Sequenom, DNAPrint president T ony Frudakis told GenomeWeb.
The Orchid SNPstream was " the most cost effective solution,” Frudakis explained. ”It offered us the highest throughput for the cheapest price.”
Frudakis said the Sequenom MassArray system’s ability to multiplex makes it “a sexier technology.” But, he added, DNA Print doesn’t need this feature, because the company only performs discrete analysis of individual haplotypes, he said.
The company dismissed other SNP analysis technologies because they did not offer the same high rate of throughput in as cost-effective or efficient a manner, according to Frudakis.