By Bhanvi Satija and Marleen Kaesebier
LONDON/ZURICH, June 29 (Reuters) – Swiss pharmaceutical and diagnostics giant Roche launched its long-awaited Axelios gene sequencer on Monday, in a bid to challenge U.S. company Illumina’s leadership in next-generation sequencing.
Roche’s launch is limited to academic and research-focused facilities and comes more than a decade after the group’s failed $6.8 billion hostile bid to acquire Illumina.
The Axelios platform is designed to rapidly read and analyse DNA at scale, supporting applications from disease research to drug development.
Unlike traditional short-read sequencing systems, Axelios converts DNA or ribonucleic acid (RNA) into longer molecules that are easier to read, then passes them through tiny pores on a reusable chip to generate genetic data that can be analysed in near real time.
GRADUAL PUSH FOR MARKET SHARE
Analysts say Roche’s entry is likely to be a gradual push for market share rather than a rapid disruption of the sector, which is valued at about $7.3 billion. Illumina remains the clear leader, with estimates putting its share of NGS systems at around 70%.
Roche said it aims to sell about 100 machines in the first year, a target that will lay the foundation for a future blockbuster franchise generating over 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion) in annual sales over the long term.
Vontobel analyst Stefan Schneider told Reuters ahead of the launch that the target was achievable with “high certainty” given Roche’s commercial scale, but noted that diagnostic launches typically ramp up more slowly than medicines due to institutional tender processes.
Illumina’s NovaSeq X machines, aimed at similar large-scale sequencing work, list at roughly $985,000 to $1.25 million and Roche’s Axelios is priced competitively at $750,000 in the United States.
Analysts note the upfront price of the instrument is secondary to the recurring cost of supplies needed to run it, such as chemical reagents, which can add up to millions of dollars over the lifespan of the machine.
The company has partnered with 10x Genomics and Google DeepVariant for data analysis, backed by early platform validation from Broad Clinical Labs and the Hartwig Medical Foundation to ease adoption.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in London and Marleen Kaesebier in Zurich; Editing by Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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