San Diego-based Illumina Inc. has another buyer for its $10 million gene sequencing platform – WuXi PharmaTech Inc., a biotech, pharma and medical device research and development outsourcing firm with operations in China and the U.S.
WuXi said the equipment will enable it to expand its clinical genomic services in the Asia Pacific region and conduct populationwide genome sequencing.
Illumina’s (Nasdaq: ILMN) HiSeq X Ten is the first gene sequencing equipment that brings the cost of decoding an entire human genome to less than $1,000. The high-profile device has announced a string of customers, its most recent being the newly launched, San Diego-based Human Longevity Inc., headed by lauded area scientist J. Craig Venter. The HLI bought two of the devices with its $70 million in startup funding.
