Illumina Inc. Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Illumina launches state-of-the-art facility in Brazil

[Image from Illumina]Illumina (Nasdaq:ILMN) announced today that it launched a new state-of-the-art solution center in São Paulo, Brazil.

San Diego-based Illumina selected Brazil as a location for the facility to reflect the increasing demand for and interest in clinical genomics as it seeks to expand access to such genomics in Latin America.

According to a news release, Illumina’s customers and partners in Brazil include researchers, applied markets and clinical labs and healthcare institutions, meaning the new facility can allow the company to offer its partners an ideal environment for demonstrations and training sessions. The company believes this will optimize education and experience with next-generation sequencing and array technologies.

The 11,000 square-foot facility includes a fully operational lab with cutting-edge Illumina technology to train customers and partners. The company said it works with 14 channel partners operating across more t…

Illumina launches new genomic profiling test for cancer in Europe

Illumina (Nasdaq:ILMN) announced today that it launched its TruSight oncology test for assessing multiple tumor genes and biomarkers.

San Diego-based Illumina’s CE-marked TruSight test, which will begin its global launch in Europe, assesses the tumor genes and biomarkers to reveal the specific molecular profile of a patient’s cancer, helping to inform precision medicine decisions.

According to a news release, the new in vitro diagnostic (IVD) complete genome profiling (CGP) kit covers a wide array of current and emerging mutations and biomarkers, maximizing the chances of finding actionable biopsy information for each patient.

Illumina said TruSight assesses biomarkers in 517 cancer-relevant genes in nearly 30 solid tumor types by evaluating both DNA and RNA, along with complex genomic signatures like microsatellite instability (MSI) and tumor mutational burden (TMB). It aims to eliminate the need for separate sequential genetic test…

Illumina appoints chief information officer

Illumina (Nasdaq:ILMN) announced today that it appointed Carissa Rollins as its new chief information officer.

A 30-year veteran of business technology transformation and digital and consumerization strategy, Rollins joins San Diego-based Illumina having most recently served as chief information officer (CIO) at UnitedHealthcare. Her appointment was made effective today.

Rollins’ responsibilities at UnitedHealthcare included strategy and technology investments supporting commercial, Medicare and retirement and government programs technology business portfolios. Prior to UnitedHealthcare, Rollins held leadership positions at Gander Mountain, Kohl’s, Manpower Global and Miller-Coors.

“I look forward to joining the Illumina team and building upon the high-performance teams, ensuring that key stakeholders have a continuously improved experience with IT services and support,” Rollins said in a news release. “For me, by focusing o…

Baxter, 3M, Abbott near the top of Newsweeks’ most reponsible companies list

Several medtech, healthcare and life sciences companies, including big names like Abbott (NYSE:ABT), 3M (NYSE:MMM) and Baxter (NYSE:BAX), are among the 500 “most responsible,” according to Newsweek.

The outlet published its “America’s Most Responsible Companies 2022” list, marking the third installment of the compilation (in partnership with Statista), this time expanded to include 500 of the largest public corporations around. Companies were judged with an overall score out of 100 that combined environmental, social and corporate governance performance assessments.

Baxter, 3M, Abbott and BD (NYSE:BDX) were among the highest-ranking big-name medical device makers. Cancer diagnostic company Illumina was the highest-ranking company under the healthcare and life sciences umbrella, sitting in second behind HP.

In sixth sat Baxter, registering an overall score of 89.5 points, with its highest performance coming in environmental i…

Medtech M&A: The industry’s biggest mergers and acquisitions of 2021

[Image from Jp Valery on Unsplash]Across 2021, medtech has seen a wide range of mergers and acquisitions covering several areas of devices, pharmaceuticals and more.

Some have gone off without a hitch, while others fell into serious scrutiny as mouthwatering financial figures were revealed and major technologies were acquired.

Here are the 10 biggest mergers and acquisitions in medtech in 2021:

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Illumina, Merck partner on diagnostics for identifying specific cancer mutations

Illumina (NSDQ:ILMN) and Merck today announced a partnership to develop diagnostics for identifying certain genetic mutations.

The partnership aims to develop and commercialize tests that identify genetic mutations used in the assessment of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), leveraging Illumina’s TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO 500) content, enabling what the companies tout as the most comprehensive genomic profiling assays in a single worfklow.

San Diego-based Illumina said in a news release that the partnership builds upon an initial study conducted between the two companies and uses Illumina’s relationship with Myriad Genetics to expand international access to the proprietary technology in Myriad’s FDA-approved myChoice CDx companion diagnostic test.

Under the partnership, Illumina will develop a new HRD CDx test for the European Union and the UK to aid in the identification of ovarian cancer patients with positive HRD status who …

MedTech 100 roundup: Industry reaches another high point

The medtech industry is continuing its massive 2021 boom, with the past week marking yet another record in the markets.

MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished last week (Aug. 27) at 121.05 points, representing a 1.2% rise from the 119.63-point mark set a week before. Following a slight dip earlier this month, the industry continues to tick up to new heights.

Medtech’s performance continues to reflect an overall rebound from the struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, too. The industry remains well above the marks set around the height of the pandemic, having registered a 31.1% increase from the pre-pandemic high of 92.32 (set on Feb. 19, 2020). Moreover, it remains well ahead of the mid-pandemic low of 62.13 (March 23, 2020) as well, totaling a 94.8% ascent above that point.

The industry’s performance fell in line with the overall markets this past week as the S&P 500 I…

EU to investigate Illumina’s decision to close $8B Grail acquisition

The European Commission announced that it opened an investigation to assess Illumina’s (NSDQ:ILMN) recently completed acquisition of Grail.

Last week, Illumina completed its long-awaited, highly-scrutinized acquisition of the cancer detection company that spun out from Illumina nearly five years ago. The $8 billion acquisition was initially announced in September 2020.

Within the announcement of the transaction’s completion, San Diego-based Illumina said that it will hold Grail as a separate company as the European Commission conducts an ongoing regulatory review. A decision from the EU regulators is anticipated after the deal expires, but Illumina has said Grail has no business in Europe, which leads company officials to believe the review is out of the European Commission’s jurisdiction.

A day after the announcement of the acquisition’s completion, the European Commission said in a news release that it would open an investigation to a…

MedTech 100 roundup: On the rise again

After a slight hiccup disrupted weeks of improvement, the medtech industry again flexed its muscles over the last seven days.

MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished last week (Aug. 20) at 119.63 points, representing a 1.5% rise from the 117.92-point tally set a week prior.

The shift marks a quick rebound from the -1.2% dip observed in the previous week and the index now sits at its highest week-ending mark ever, having actually hit an all-time best of 119.72 points on Aug. 17.

Medtech’s performance continues to reflect an overall rebound from the struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, too. The industry remains well above the marks set around the height of the pandemic, having registered a 29.6% increase from the pre-pandemic high of 92.32 (set on Feb. 19, 2020). Moreover, it remains well ahead of the mid-pandemic low of 62.13 (March 23, 2020) as well, totaling an 92.5% asc…

Illumina completes $8B Grail acquisition, companies remain separate amid European review

Illumina (NSDQ:ILMN) announced that it completed its long-awaited and much-scrutinized acquisition of cancer detection company Grail.

In September 2020, San Diego-based Illumina announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire Grail, a startup that spun out from Illumina nearly five years ago, for cash and stock consideration of $8 billion.

The announcement of the proposed merger was met with heavy scrutiny, with Illumina and Grail agreeing this past spring to postpone the planned purchase until after Sept. 20 while the FTC challenged the deal. The company in March stated that it disagreed with and will oppose the FTC’s challenge to the acquisition. However, in June, a U.S. judge has ruled in favor of an FTC petition to drop its case against the merger.

Illumina said in a news release that it will hold Grail as a separate company as the European Commission conducts an ongoing regulatory review. A decision from the EU regulators is projected after t…

MedTech 100 roundup: Rebound hits a snag

Two weeks ago, medtech was on the rise following a rough stretch, but the past week brought the industry slightly back down to earth.

MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished the week (June 4) at 106.96 points, producing a -1.4% dip from the 108.5-point mark set one week prior (May 28). It halts the progress made over a couple of weeks in which the industry produced an uptick, following its 1.4% rise from May 14 to May 21.

Having endured its largest slide of 2021 in recent weeks, the index is still in a better position to produce another upswing after demonstrating signs of picking up again when April brought the industry’s all-time best performance.

Even with setbacks that slowed the industry this past week, medtech’s performance continues to reflect an overall rebound from the struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, too. The industry has registered a 15.9% rise from the pre…

Report: FTC drops Illumina-Grail court case

A U.S. judge reportedly ruled in favor of an FTC petition to drop its case against the proposed merger between Illumina (NSDQ:ILMN) and Grail.

The Financial Times reported that the ruling allows Brussels to investigate the merger while the deal remains blocked. In April the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition announced today that it will review Illumina’s proposed $8 billion acquisition of Grail.

Illumina and Grail agreed this spring to postpone the planned purchase until after Sept. 20 while the FTC challenged the deal. The company in March stated that it disagreed with and will oppose the FTC’s challenge to the acquisition of Grail, a cancer detection startup that spun out from the company four years ago.

According to the FT report, Illumina CEO Francis deSouza claims that the U.S. regulators are employing “time-wasting” maneuvers and that the companies want the FTC to operate with a sense of urgency to get the case to…