Back on this relatively calmer side of the pond, one product soon to reach the market which will not use Illumina’s hardware is Premaitha Health’s IONA test. We at Sagentia have used our algorithm, data processing and medical grade software capabilities to develop the custom clinical bioinformatics analysis application that performs the test analysis, computes test results and generates test reports. Premaitha re-iterated today that the IONA test is expected to receive its CE-mark in January following positive feedback on their quality systems and regulatory strategy from potential adopters and regulators. This test should, therefore, help to address the recently reported issue of quality control, as it has both a higher detection rate and a lower false positive rate.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this fast growing market, which Renub Research estimates will expand by 150% over the next 5 years. But whatever goes on between the players in this space, the technological advances taking place are exciting and have the potential to offer real benefits for patients. Watch this space for further updates!