NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – HTG Molecular Diagnostics has struck an agreement with Illumina to develop in vitro diagnostic kits for sequencing tests, the company said today.
Under the agreement, HTG will have the right to develop certain IVD test kits that use Illumina's sequencing technology.
HTG, based in Tucson, Ariz., has developed the HTG Edge platform, which uses the company's proprietary nuclease protection probe chemistry to prepare samples without the need to extract DNA or RNA.
Earlier this year, HTG launched its first next-generation sequencing assay, the EdgeSeq miRNA Whole Transcriptome Assay, one of several NGS-based assays in its product pipeline.
"We believe pairing the HTG EdgeSeq chemistry and automation platform with Illumina sequencing technology is a powerful combination for developing diagnostic panels that enables local molecular labs to adopt sequencing for routine clinical use," said HTG CEO TJ Johnson in a statement.
According to the company, the HTG Edge platform is designed to profiles thousands of molecular targets from smaller samples than those required by other technologies, which could be useful for tumor profiling, molecular diagnostic testing, and biomarker development.