By Bhanvi Satija and Marleen Kaesebier
LONDON/ZURICH, June 29 (Reuters) – Swiss pharma and diagnostics giant Roche on Monday launched its long-awaited Axelios gene sequencer, in a bid to challenge U.S. firm Illumina’s leadership in next-generation sequencing.
Roche’s launch is limited to academic and research-focused facilities and comes more than a decade after the group’s failed $6.8 billion hostile bid to acquire Illumina.
The Axelios platform is designed to rapidly read and analyse DNA at scale, supporting applications from disease research to drug development.
Analysts say Roche’s entry is likely to be a gradual push for market share rather than a rapid disruption of the sector, which is valued at about $7.3 billion. Illumina remains the clear leader, with estimates putting its share of NGS systems at around 70%.
Roche said it aims to place about 100 machines in the first year, a target that will lay the foundation for a future “blockbuster” franchise generating over 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion) in annual sales over the long term.
The company has partnered with 10x Genomics and Google DeepVariant for data analysis, backed by early platform validation from Broad Clinical Labs and the Hartwig Medical Foundation to ease adoption.
Roche said it has already begun commercial shipments and booked pre-orders. The launch is focused on U.S., UK, Germany, France, among others and Roche expects to quickly expand into other geographies.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in London and Marleen Kaesebier in Zurich, Editing by Louise Heavens)