Dive Brief:
- Roche is launching the Axelios 1 next-generation sequencing platform, intensifying competition with Illumina, the dominant equipment maker in the $7.3 billion global gene sequencing market.
- The Swiss drugmaker and diagnostics company has initially collaborated with leading genomics institutions such as Amsterdam-based Hartwig Medical Foundation and the Broad Clinical Labs, a subsidiary of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. Roche said its technology is designed to address bottlenecks in genomics research today and could eventually support applications in a wide range of clinical settings.
- The high-throughput platform can handle small-scale studies to massive genomic projects, the company said, enabling laboratories to use a single instrument to expand their research.
Dive Insight:
Roche’s introduction of the Axelios sequencer at a genome science conference in February generated much buzz among Wall Street analysts looking to gauge its impact on Illumina’s sequencing business and prompted Tycho Peterson of Jefferies to call the platform the “greatest credible competitive threat in years.”
Roche, which once bid to acquire Illumina more than a decade ago, says it has responded to demand for improved performance by developing a new category of NGS technology, called sequencing by expansion, or SBX. The SBX technology converts DNA or RNA information into a longer, expanded molecule, overcoming the challenges of current technology. Advantages of the approach include accuracy, scalability and faster speed.
“These attributes, combined with our high level of cost efficiency, will enable the sequencing community to develop applications that previously were not feasible,” Roche Diagnostics CEO Matt Sause said in a statement.
Since the SBX technology was unveiled in early 2025, Roche said, multiple research applications have been tested as proof of principle, including whole genome sequencing and single-cell RNA sequencing. Early users have demonstrated research applications across oncology, genetics and infectious diseases.
Sause called Axelios a “disruptive” technology. Analysts, however, questioned Roche’s ability to shake up the NGS market given Illumina’s large installed base.
In a note to clients earlier this month, analysts at J.P. Morgan said “there is general intrigue” about the new technology. However, they said Illumina’s clinical customer base is “sticky,” and management teams that are transitioning to Illumina’s NovaSeq X sequencer have indicated “they aren’t urgently planning to switch” to a new system.
