SEQUENOM Launches Online E-Commerce Platform To Accelerate Large-Scale Genetic Studies
SAN DIEGO, May 1 - SEQUENOM, Inc. a discovery genetics company, today announced the launch of its new RealSNP.com(TM) e-commerce platform, which offers online access to SEQUENOM's industry leading collection of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assays for accelerating large-scale genetic studies.
SEQUENOM's collection contains approximately 400,000 validated assays extracted from the Company's database of more than 2 million designed SNP assays, all of which are now available for purchase online. The Company believes that this collection is the largest of its kind. Each SNP assay is offered along with its unique set of custom oligonucleotides, or strands of synthetic DNA also known as primers, which are quality controlled using SEQUENOM's proprietary MassARRAY(TM) technology. In addition, more than 200,000 SNP assays from this collection are supported by confirmation data and allele frequency data in various reference populations, including four distinct ethnic groups.
"The RealSNP.com platform provides companies, institutions and universities that are involved in genetics with immediate access to the tests necessary for SNP analysis," said Toni Schuh, Ph.D., SEQUENOM's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our SNP assay collection covers virtually every gene in the human genome, enabling a new level of genetic studies. This is expected to result in significant time and cost savings for our customers and high-margin sales revenue for SEQUENOM."
SNPs are the most common form of genetic variation and represent the origin of most differences among individuals, including predisposition to disease and variations in drug efficacy and response. The first step toward analyzing a SNP is to design a specific assay. Once validated, this assay enables further study of that particular SNP. SNP analysis is expected to play an important role in the future of targeted drug development and other healthcare applications, including diagnostic testing.
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