As our sister publications Pharmacogenomics Reporter and In Sequence report, Illumina has gotten into the personal genome-sequencing game. For $48,000 Illumina will sequence someone's genome, using its Genome Analyzer II, and provided that person has a prescription. Illumina will do the raw data analysis but for the user to get all the risk information, the consumer will go to Illumina's partners, 23andMe, Navigenics, Decode, and Knome.
At Genomeboy, Misha Angrist adds that four people are currently using the service including Illumina CEO Jay Flatley. Daniel MacArthur also has a run-down of the new service. He writes that he has "every expectation that Illumina will become a serious player" in the field. Thomas Mailund adds that what dampens his excitement is the price. "While Illumina's offer is half the price of Knome, it is still far from DeCodeMe (1M markers for $1000) or 23AndMe (500K markers for $400) and not really in the range of the average citizens," he writes.
On a related note, Francis Collins has used 23andMe, Navigenics, and DecodeMe's services, according to Angrist. Collins noticed differences in the companies' interpretations, likely due to the different sets of SNPs tested.