Natera (NTRA), a leader in non-invasive genetic testing and the analysis of circulating cell-free DNA, and Biopticka Laborator, one of the largest and most well-established laboratories in the Czech Republic, today announced a Constellation™ technology transfer licensing agreement that enables Biopticka Laborator to leverage Natera’s proprietary single nucleotide polymorphism-based (SNP) technology to screen for fetal aneuploidies.
Constellation allows laboratories worldwide to access key technologies that Natera uses in its own lab, enabling them to develop, validate, and clinically offer complex, next-generation clinical genomics testing from their own facilities. The licensing agreement also includes access to Natera’s proprietary reagents, algorithms within the constellation softwarer platform and scientific collobration to develop procedures based on best practices from Natera’s laboratory.
Biopticka selected Natera’s SNP technology because of its sensitivity, specificity, and ability to deliver lower false positive rates and false negative rates for aneuploidies when compared to other non-invasive prenatal screening technologies. The SNP platform accurately measures and reports fetal fraction for every sample and it is one of few platforms that incorporates fetal fraction into sample analysis.
The targeted sequencing approach of the assay also has economic benefits, by focusing expensive sequencing reads on specific genetic regions of interest rather than randomly across the whole genome. This enables Biopticka to achieve higher resolution and clinical performance with a lower overall sequencing cost than other approaches.
“A deciding factor in wanting access to Natera’s technology was the quality of the Panorama test, which highly leads the other NIPT tests in all the important parameters. The quality of the test is obvious from positive predictive values in "high-risk" but mainly "low-risk" populations, where the difference between Panorama and other NIPT tests is huge.” said RNDr. Putzova Martina, Ph.D., the molecular geneticist at Biopticka laborator in charge of the test selection and technology transfer, who has experience in prenatal and noninvasive testing.
Martina continued:
Further, zero fetal sex errors in validation studies and the highest sensitivity among all NIPTs for 22q deletion were attractive features. We also appreciate all the control mechanisms applicable during the laboratory and bioinformatic workflow.”
"We are very pleased that Biopticka Laborator has chosen to license our unique SNP technology," said Marin Markov, VP of International Sales at Natera. "Our SNP technology platform has been a key differentiator for Panorama.”
Natera's total revenues decrease 2.9% to $44.9 million in third quarter 2015