Illumina, Inc. and KingMed Diagnostics announced an agreement to jointly develop novel oncology and hereditary disease testing applications utilizing Illumina's next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The collaboration is a significant step toward China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) review and approval, and serves as a starting point to deliver precision medicine to patients throughout China. Under the agreement, Illumina and KingMed Diagnostics will partner to co-develop an integrated NGS system that provides cost-effective and ready-to-use in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) assays for molecular oncology and hereditary cancer testing.

The new system is based on Illumina's MiniSeq System and related sequencing consumables, integrated with KingMed Diagnostics' proprietary testing components, which include library preparation kits and analysis software. The integrated system can reach cancer patients across China via KingMed Diagnostics' extensive clinical network that serves more than 8,000 Class 2 and Class 3B hospitals.