Affymetrix Inc. (AFFX) announced that it has entered a multi-year supply agreement with San Jose, CA-based Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc. The agreement will allow Ariosa’s Harmony Non-Invasive Prenatal Test (NIPT) to avail Affymetrix’s arrays and instruments.
Though the adjusted closing stock price of Affymetrix increased 4.7% following the announcement, it tumbled on the very next day.
Ariosa Diagnostics is a global molecular diagnostics company, which provides testing that are validated by rigorous and comprehensive methodologies.
Affymetrix’s Harmony Prenatal Test, is a safe, accurate and affordable prenatal test for maternal and fetal health. It provides information to pregnant women and their healthcare providers that help taking important decisions regarding their health, without creating unnecessary stress.
The Harmony test is a non-invasive blood test that can be performed on pregnant women 10 weeks before pregnancy. By evaluating cell-free DNA found in maternal blood, the test can examine the risk of Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) in the fetus.
A recent publication of a study in Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy proclaimed that Ariosa’s scientists successfully tested and implemented a microarray DNA quantification method for Ariosa's Harmony NIPT which offers significant advantages, including shorter turnaround time, over the previous DNA sequencing approach.
Ariosa's implementation of the microarray NIPT method showed impressive results to get better performance in a much shorter process than DNA sequencing. It is believed that this partnership will help Ariosa develop a Harmony test kit which will further enable other laboratories, around the globe to implement this test.
Affymetrix, Inc. provides life science tools and molecular diagnostic products that enable parallel analysis of biological systems at the gene, protein, and cell level, primarily in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Currently, Affymetrix carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other well-performing stocks in the biomedical/gene industry include Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (EBS), Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS) and Fibrocell Science, Inc. (FCSC). All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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