Myriad Genetics has announced a collaboration with Ultima Genomics to evaluate the potential of the UG 100 sequencing platform and ppmSeq technology in advancing clinical tests in oncology and reproductive genomics.

This partnership aims to enhance the performance and cost-effectiveness of Myriad's clinical tests using Ultima's sequencing solutions.

The sequencing platform is expected to join other advanced sequencing platforms at Myriad's Lab of the Future facility in South San Francisco.

The platform's low-cost sequencing capabilities could significantly benefit Myriad's emerging products, which rely on large volumes of accurate sequencing data.

Myriad's Precise molecular residual disease (MRD) test, which performs whole-genome sequencing on samples from cancer patients, is set to improve in both performance and cost with Ultima's ppmSeq technology on the UG 100.

Myriad Genetics chief operating officer Sam Raha said: “A key part of our mission is to make relevant cutting-edge genetic testing broadly accessible. We regularly evaluate new platforms that have the possibility of supporting our mission.

“As part of that process, we have identified the UG 100 as a potentially transformative platform that may provide an industrial sequencing centre like ours the opportunity to lower costs, improve quality, and deepen insights simultaneously.

“It could influence how we offer and innovate upon some of our promising tests like Precise MRD and FirstGene, which are expected to enter the market in the near future, and it may also support us in exploring new areas with future products that may have been challenging to pursue otherwise.”

The company anticipates launching its FirstGene Multiple Prenatal Screen in the reproductive health sector, designed to run multiple prenatal screens through one sequencing workflow.

The UG 100 platform's deep and precise sequencing capabilities are expected to be ideally suited to affordably deliver this service.

Ultima Genomics CEO Gilad Almogy said: “Ultima’s unique sequencing architecture was designed to specifically meet the needs of large-scale applications. For oncology applications, our ppmSeq technology offers accuracy at extremely low limits of detection and we believe this will be transformational for applications requiring earlier detection such as MRD.”

In September 2023, Myriad Genetics collaborated with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for the evaluation of MRD testing in patients with breast cancer.