Ultima Genomics and Genome Insight Collaborate to Bring Affordable Whole Genome Sequencing to Cancer Patients

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Apr 10, 2023, 08:00 ET

NEWARK, Calif., April 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultima Genomics, Inc. and Genome Insight, Inc. have signed an agreement to collaborate to bring affordable whole genome sequencing solutions to cancer patients. As part of the agreement, Genome Insight will join the early access program for Ultima's high-throughput NGS instrument platform, the UG 100™, and develop an optimized version of its whole genome bioinformatics solution for Ultima's sequencing technology. The combination of Genome Insight's proprietary bioinformatics with Ultima's low-cost sequencing will make whole genome sequencing an affordable reality for cancer patients.

Although cancer is a disease caused by alterations to the genome, conventional NGS approaches typically use targeted panels that examine only a small fraction of this information. Insights into the whole genome can expand the understanding of cancer biology and provide important information for physicians in formulating a treatment strategy for each patient. Genome Insight's proprietary bioinformatics platform translates a cancer patient's genome into medically meaningful insights. Optimizing this platform for Ultima's high-throughput, low-cost sequencing architecture will enable delivery of curated whole genome sequencing reports to patients and physicians at a very low cost – even cheaper than conventional NGS panels.

"We are excited to partner with Ultima to bring affordable whole genome sequencing to cancer patients," said Young Seok Ju, CEO of Genome Insight. "The ability to analyze the entire genome at a low cost is a game-changer in cancer treatment, and we are proud to be at the forefront of this revolution. This collaboration is an important step towards our vision of using whole genome sequencing to improve patient outcomes."

"We founded Ultima Genomics to help overcome the tradeoffs scientists and clinicians are forced to make between the breadth, depth and frequency with which they use genomic information," said Gilad Almogy, CEO of Ultima Genomics. "Genome Insight's focus on whole genome sequencing is a perfect example of this, and we are excited to collaborate on this development."

About Ultima Genomics

Ultima Genomics is unleashing the power of genomics at scale. The Company's mission is to continuously drive the scale of genomic information to enable unprecedented advances in biology and improvements in human health. With humanity on the cusp of a biological revolution, there is a virtually endless need for more genomic information to address biology's complexity and dynamic change — and a further need to challenge conventional next-generation sequencing technologies. Ultima's revolutionary new sequencing architecture drives down the costs of sequencing to help overcome the tradeoffs that scientists and clinicians are forced to make between the breadth, depth, and frequency with which they use genomic information. The new sequencing architecture was designed to scale far beyond conventional sequencing technologies, lower the cost of genomic information and catalyze the next phase of genomics in the 21st century. To learn more, visit www.ultimagenomics.com

About Genome Insight

Genome Insight is a precision medicine whole genome platform company with the goal to accelerate the use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for accurate diagnosis and personalized treatment for cancer and rare diseases. Genome Insight's proprietary platform is an automated WGS pipeline coupled with a bioinformatics-powered digital solution that rapidly generates meaningful medical insights making it possible to use WGS in real-life clinical settings. Furthermore, this platform is applied in the research setting to advance novel therapeutic strategies in cancer and rare diseases. The company's headquarters is in San Diego (US) with R&D offices in Seoul and Daejeon (Korea). To learn more, please visit www.genomeinsight.net

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SOURCE Ultima Genomics