NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Illumina said today that it has entered into a three-year supply agreement with Natera, under which Natera will run its noninvasive prenatal test Panorama on Illumina's HiSeq 2500 and use the associated Illumina consumables.
"This deal enables a major expansion of Natera's laboratory capacity to support the fast-growing demand for our Panorama test," Natera CEO Matthew Rabinowitz said in a statement.
Currently, all four US-based noninvasive prenatal testing firms — Ariosa Diagnostics, Natera, Sequenom, and Verinata Health — use Illumina sequencing instruments and consumables for their tests.
Illumina also owns Verinata, which it purchased early this year for $350 million with up to $100 million in milestone payments by 2015, a decision that sparked some confusion among other NIPT firms about what it would mean for the companies' business relationships with Illumina.
Sequenom, for instance, has a supply agreement with Illumina through 2016.
Illumina has maintained that it will continue to supply all companies in the field and has also stated that it intends to bring Verinata's Verifi test through US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance.
"Illumina's goal is to enable the rapid growth of NIPT and the broader reproductive health market with technology, products, and ultimately FDA-approved in vitro diagnostic systems," Nick Naclerio, Illumina's senior vice president of corporate and venture development, said in today's statement.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.