Test for Rhesus D is on track to launch in 2007.
Sequenom and Lenetix Medical Screening Laboratory will develop and commercialize a noninvasive prenatal Rhesus D (RhD) incompatibility test.
“The noninvasive characterization of fetal Rh genotype and other fetal genetic information has the potential to transform the practice of prenatal risk assessment,” points out Leonard Kellner, president of Lenetix. “This new approach to noninvasive evaluation of a baby in utero is a very exciting scientific and commercial development and may significantly reduce the need for invasive fetal diagnostic tests, such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.”
Under the collaboration and license agreement, Sequenom will use its patent rights and RT PCR methodology. The RhD test, Sequenom’s first noninvasive prenatal test, is expected to be marketed as a home brew test in the U.S. in the first half of 2007.
