Could you provide an overview of Illumina?

We are commemorating our 25th anniversary in April 2023. Throughout our history, Illumina has been a leading player in the rapidly expanding genomics industry. While we operate globally, the majority of our business is based in the Americas and is especially expanding in Latin America. Our primary focus is on driving technical innovations and promoting accessibility to enable the advancement of research and clinical adoption of genomic applications. Our mission is to unlock the power of the genome to improve human health, and our technology leadership and culture of innovation have enabled us to make meaningful progress toward this goal over the last 25 years.

What are the specificities of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)?

This technology platform can be used to decode and analyze the genetic elements of any living organism, including humans, plants, and animals. Recently, there has been an increase in demand for this technology as more biotech and biopharma companies seek to better understand the genetic code and how to leverage it. Precision medicine is using an individual’s genomic makeup to inform their clinical care. Pharmaceutical companies are utilizing genomic information to match therapies and drugs to individuals’ genetic make-up for optimal response. Therefore, genomics serves as a high-resolution molecular map for understanding biology and informing healthcare. Oncology is a prime example of how understanding the genomics of diseases can help advance personalized treatments and improve patient outcomes. Illumina's technology platforms are used to sequence patients' tumors, providing clinicians with information to inform pre-disposition, treatment selection, prognosis, and relapse. Genomic testing has also become essential in diagnosing cancer and helping clinicians tailor therapies to the genomic composition of the disease.

What was the driving force behind the launch of your new cloud-based software Connected Insights?

Genomics is a data-intensive science that requires a significant amount of information. The focus has shifted from generating data to assimilating and analyzing it, which is now a critical part of the workflow. Our goal is to not only generate accurate DNA sequences but also provide analysis tools that will enable the ultimate consumers of that data to generate the highest quality insights. This can help inform patient care. Illumina Connected Insights is a cloud based software that specifically enables users to leverage external knowledge bases to perform teritary analysis of NGS data, streamlining clinical interpretation and reporting, including relevant clinical trials, drug labels informaiton, and clinical guidelines. It has been launched to support somatic oncology applications, and will also support whole genome sequencing for rare diseases.

Could you provide an overview of NovaSeq X and the industry demand for this product?

We are thrilled about NovaSeq X, a technology we have been developing for over five years by more than 1,500 scientists and with more than 40 patents filed reltated to its technology innovations. This is not just a new instrument platform, but also includes a brand new chemistry called XLEAP-SBS, the newest generation of our SBS chemistry that runs on the instrument. Since the launch, the response from the marketplace has been extremely positive. NovaSeq X sequences twice as fast as its predecessor, the NovaSeq 6000, and is three times more accurate. This technology provides higher throughput and accuracy and reduces the cost of sequencing - allowing customers to run more samples, increase sequencing depth for greater sensitivity and achieve greater breadth of analysis through multi-omics analysis. With two-thirds of FDA-approved drugs in 2021 having a genomic basis, pharma is increasingly interested in leveraging genomics and multi-omics to inform drug discovery. NovaSeq X enables our customers to pursue projects at a scale not previously thought possible, and that work will unlock the next generation of groundbreaking genomic discoveries.

What are Illumina's main goals for the upcoming year of 2023?

Our primary goal is to accelerate the improvement of human health through unlocking the power of the genome. We also place a high importance CSR. And finally, we aim to to advance accessibility of the benefits of genomics for all, and another major challenge to overcome is closing the gap in the diversity of genomic data. We are focused on advancing genomics in the context of precision health across multiple clinical areas, including oncology testing, rare disease, reproductive health, and infectious disease.