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With Helix, Illumina Goes Consumer – Again

 
• By Mark Ratner

After failing to tap into the consumer market six years ago with a health-information-oriented Personal Genomics Service, Illumina is taking a new tack in trying to leverage the value of its industry-leading gene sequencing platform – in this case setting its sights well beyond medicine and even wellness. Its new $100 million venture, Helix, also backed by two large investors, intends to become a massive “app store,” with partners creating content derived from consumers’ genomic information.

After failing to tap into the consumer market six years ago with a health-information-oriented Personal Genomics Service, Illumina Inc. is taking a new tack in trying to leverage the value of its industry-leading gene sequencing platform – in this case setting its sights well beyond medicine and even wellness. Along with Warburg Pincus and Sutter Hill Ventures, it is committing more than $100 million to back newly formed Helix Opco LLC. [See Deal] The company intends to become a massive “app store,” with partners creating content derived from consumers’ genomic information. Helix will obtain, process, store and protect the genomic data and distribute it to consumers in an on-demand manner through its partners. In conjunction with the financing, Helix announced that the Mayo Clinic and Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (Labcorp.) have signed on as partners.

The goal is to empower the consumer by making genomics data accessible in bite-sized pieces on demand, with Helix housing...

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