QIAGEN Launch of 14 New Cancer Gene Panels

QIAGEN N.V. has announced the launch of 14 new GeneRead™ DNAseq V2 gene panels targeting an extensive range of cancer-related genes or gene regions. Gene panels are an integral part of many next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflows. They are used to enrich genes of interest in a sample prior to sequencing runs and as such can be seen as the core assay in the workflow.

QIAGEN’s new GeneRead panels are customizable to include other genes or gene regions of clinical or biological interest and are compatible with any NGS sequencer. They are part of QIAGEN’s industry-leading sample-to-library workflows, which are helping to drive the growing use of NGS in clinical applications.

“By delivering high-quality solutions for sample processing, assay design and data analysis and interpretation, QIAGEN is addressing the key bottlenecks of current sequencing workflows, making NGS technology more effective, robust and scalable. We today offer the largest collection of gene panels in the market and are rapidly expanding our portfolio of high-utility solutions that help labs create fast and integrated workflows,” said Peer M. Schatz, Chief Executive Officer of QIAGEN. “The new GeneRead panels incorporate sophisticated algorithms to enable analysis of many gene variants and customization for specific objectives. We continue to deliver on QIAGEN’s growth driver of providing universal solutions for NGS workflows by addressing our customers’ urgent needs for fast turnaround times, low DNA input requirements, and quality control to ensure accurate, reproducible results.”

The 14 new GeneRead DNAseq V2 panels cover an extensive range of cancer-related genes and gene regions, including “focused” panels each targeting 8-25 genes, “disease-specific” panels for 40-50 genes, and “comprehensive” panels for as many as 160 genes. The content of the panels has been developed based on the latest recommendations from relevant medical and scientific literature.

The gene panels are integrated with QIAGEN’s industry-leading bioinformatics software, Ingenuity® Variant Analysis™, an extensive, curated database of gene variants and clinical data that enables interpretation of NGS results and delivers valuable insights from sequencing data. Laboratories also can customize GeneRead panels for specific disease pathways or research needs by tapping into QIAGEN’s deep molecular content portfolio through GeneGlobe, an online portal covering more than 60,000 annotated molecular assays.

QIAGEN has been collaborating with selected customers in the development of the new gene panels to validate product performance in a wide range of applications, including translational research and clinical applications. Dr. Gregory J. Tsongalis, Professor and Director of Molecular Pathology at the Department of Pathology at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, one of the early users of QIAGEN’s GeneRead V2 panels, commented: "For focused analysis of relevant genes or gene regions in our targeted oncology studies, we found that the pre-validated GeneRead gene panels are robust and have very streamlined workflows. These gene panels are capable of generating sequencing data from the most difficult of tissue samples. The cloud-based bioinformatics resources are very helpful in the interpretation of the data.”

QIAGEN’s GeneRead technology provides the most cost-effective, time-efficient approach for target enrichment in preparation for NGS runs on any sequencer. Unlike other approaches for sequencers, GeneRead panels use as little as 10 nanograms of starting DNA material per pool. They are compatible with FFPE samples and do not require any specialized instruments. The proprietary algorithms and chemistry provide industry leading coverage (>96% of coding regions), specificity (>90% of reads on target) and uniformity (>90% of bases are covered by at least 20% of the mean coverage depth) for the targeted DNA sequencing. In addition to their quality advantages, QIAGEN gene panels require only three hours to enrich for targets and provide for a substantially reduced time to go from isolated DNA sample to sequencing-ready libraries.

QIAGEN provides a full range of sample technologies, assay panels and library preparation products which today generate substantial revenue and solve important NGS needs in clinical and clinical research applications in particular. QIAGEN also is developing the benchtop GeneReader™ NGS platform for the same applications. Combined with QIAGEN’s existing NGS portfolio, GeneReader is designed to provide a seamless automated workflow from biological sample, through DNA preparation, enrichment, library preparation, sequencing, data analysis and interpretation, to deliver valuable insights into diseases.