Thursday, February 10, 2011

Sequenom's Non-invasive Down Syndrome test shows 100% sensitivity and 99.7% specificity in a major clinical trial

Eureka! Alliluia!
Those now if you are in your 40s and get pregnant sometime closer to the end of the year, most likely you won't need to go for the amniocentesis. Sequenom just confirmed that their non-invasive T21 test is just as accurate as the amnio, but without side effects!
Unfortunately, the company's marketing and PR department is the complete opposite of their R&D. The only mention of the test accuracy data is in their brief press release below off PR Newswire. We did not pick it up from WSJ, Bloomberg or Forbes journalists. Their CEO or CMO is not on the air or on TV. And it seems like we are the only blog covering this historic event!

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequenom (Nasdaq:SQNM - News) is very pleased to announce publication in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2010.12.060) of Sequenom CMM's "locked assay" study.

The paper entitled "Noninvasive detection of fetal trisomy 21 by sequencing of DNA in maternal blood: a study in a clinical setting" is available through the 'Articles Online First' section of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology website – http://www.ajog.org. The article is scheduled to appear in the March issue of the journal to be published both online and in print.

Study Results

The performance of a massively parallel shotgun sequencing based assay for noninvasive detection of fetal aneuploidy was evaluated on a set of 480 plasma samples from pregnant women at high-risk for fetal chromosomal aneuploidy. Utilizing 449 samples, all 39 trisomy 21 (T21) samples were correctly identified, while one of the 410 euploid samples was misclassified as T21. The overall classification showed 100% sensitivity (95% CI: 89% to 100%) and 99.7 specificity (95% CI: 98.5% to 99%). A total of 31 samples were removed due to insufficient quantity, breakage or failing pre-specified quality control criteria.

"This important study demonstrated that massively parallel shotgun sequencing is a potentially viable path for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of fetal Trisomy 21 and warrants its validation in a larger clinical validation study," said Harry F. Hixson, Jr. PhD, chairman and chief executive officer of Sequenom. "We are very pleased with the results from the 'locked assay' study and are looking forward to the completion of the larger clinical validation study later this year."

Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine (Sequenom CMM) initiated its pivotal clinical validation study in late December 2010. This validation study is designed to evaluate the clinical performance of the SensiGene T21 Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) for the detection of an overabundance of chromosome 21 in maternal blood, which is associated with fetal chromosome 21 aneuploidy. Testing of the clinical specimens is being performed at the Sequenom CMM CLIA-certified facility in San Diego.

About Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine

Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine (Sequenom CMM®) is a CAP accredited and CLIA-certified specialty reference laboratory dedicated to the development and commercialization of laboratory-developed genetic testing services for prenatal and eye conditions. Utilizing innovative proprietary technologies, Sequenom CMM provides test results that can be used as tools by clinicians in managing patient care. Testing services are available only upon request to physicians. Sequenom CMM works closely with key opinion leaders and experts in obstetrics, retinal care and genetics. The scientists use a variety of sophisticated and cutting-edge methodologies in the development and validation of tests. Sequenom CMM is changing the landscape in genetic diagnostics. Visit http://www.scmmlab.com for more information on laboratory services.