Illumina, Inc. is an American
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
company, headquartered in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, California. Incorporated on April 1, 1998, Illumina develops, manufactures, and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function. The company provides a line of products and services that serves the
sequencing
In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which suc ...
,
genotyping
Genotyping is the process of determining differences in the genetic make-up (genotype) of an individual by examining the individual's DNA sequence using biological assays and comparing it to another individual's sequence or a reference sequence. ...
and
gene expression, and
proteomics markets.
Illumina's technology had purportedly reduced the cost of
sequencing a
human genome
The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as DNA within the 23 chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and in a small DNA molecule found within individual mitochondria. These are usually treated separately as the ...
to by 2014.
Its customers include genomic research centers, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, clinical research organizations, and biotechnology companies.
History
![Czarnik, Stuelpnagel, Chee (July '98)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Czarnik%2C_Stuelpnagel%2C_Chee_%28July_%2798%29.jpg)
Illumina was founded in April 1998 by David Walt,
Larry Bock
Lawrence A. Bock (September 21, 1959July 6, 2016) was an American entrepreneur who has aided in starting or financing 50 early-stage growth companies, with a combined market value of more than $70 billion.
Personal life
Bock was born in Brookl ...
, John Stuelpnagel,
Anthony Czarnik, and Mark Chee. While working with CW Group, a venture-capital firm, Bock and Stuelpnagel uncovered what would become Illumina's BeadArray technology at
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
and negotiated an exclusive license to that technology. In 1999, Illumina acquired Spyder Instruments (founded by Michal Lebl, Richard Houghten, and Jutta Eichler) for their technology of high-throughput synthesis. Illumina completed its initial public offering in July 2000.
Illumina began offering
single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)
genotyping
Genotyping is the process of determining differences in the genetic make-up (genotype) of an individual by examining the individual's DNA sequence using biological assays and comparing it to another individual's sequence or a reference sequence. ...
services in 2001 and launched its first system, the Illumina BeadLab, in 2002, using GoldenGate Genotyping technology. Illumina currently offers microarray-based products and services for an expanding range of genetic analysis sequencing, including SNP genotyping, gene expression, and
protein analysis
Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replication of DNA. In ...
. Illumina's technologies are used by a broad range of academic, government, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other leading institutions around the globe.
On January 26, 2007, the company completed the acquisition of the British company Solexa, Inc. for ~$650M. Solexa was founded in June 1998 by
Shankar Balasubramanian
Sir Shankar Balasubramanian (born 30 September 1966) is an Indian-born British chemist and Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, ccessed 4 April 2013 Senior Group Leader ...
and
David Klenerman to develop and commercialize genome-sequencing technology invented by the founders at the University of Cambridge. Solexa, Inc. was formed in 2005 when Solexa Ltd reversed into Lynx Therapeutics of
Hayward.
Illumina also uses the DNA colony sequencing technology, invented in 1997 by Pascal Mayer and Laurent Farinelli
and which was acquired by Solexa in 2004 from the company
Manteia Predictive Medicine. It is being used to perform a range of analyses, including whole genome resequencing, gene-expression analysis, and small ribonucleic acid (sRNA) analysis.
In June 2009, Illumina announced the launch of their own
Personal
Personal may refer to:
Aspects of persons' respective individualities
* Privacy
* Personality
* Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship
Companies
* Personal, Inc., a Washington, ...
Full Genome Sequencing
Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety, or nearly the entirety, of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a ...
Service at a depth of 30X for $48,000 per genome, and a year later dropped the price to $19,500. , Illumina reduced the price to $4,000.
[Everygenome.com: Individual genome sequencing - Illumina, Inc.]
Until 2010, Illumina sold only instruments that were labeled "for research use only"; in early 2010, Illumina obtained FDA approval for its BeadXpress system to be used in clinical tests. This was part of the company's strategy at the time to open its own CLIA lab and begin offering clinical genetic testing itself.
Illumina acquired Epicentre Biotechnologies, based in
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
, on January 11, 2011. On January 25, 2012,
Hoffmann-La Roche made an unsolicited bid to buy Illumina for $44.50 per share or about $5.7 billion. Roche tried other tactics, including raising its offer (to $51.00, for about $6.8 billion). Illumina rejected the offer,
and Roche abandoned the offer in April.
In 2014, the company announced a multimillion-dollar product, HiSeq X Ten, that it forecast would provide large-scale whole-genome sequencing for $1,000/genome. The company claimed that 40 such machines would be able to sequence more genomes in one year than had been produced by all other sequencers to date. In January 2014, Illumina already held 70% of the market for genome-sequencing machines. Illumina machines accounted for more than 90% of all DNA data produced. In fact, the amount of data produced by Illumina machines is such that the company invested in the acquisition of the pre-commercial firm Enancio in 2020, which had developed a DNA
data compression algorithm
In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression ...
specifically targeting Illumina data capable of reducing storage footprint by 80% (e.g. 50
GB compressed to 10 GB).
On July 5, 2016, Jay Flatley, who had been CEO since 1999, assumed the role of executive chairman of the board of directors.
Francis deSouza took on the role of president and chief executive officer, and continues to serve on the Illumina board of directors.
In late 2015, Illumina spun off the company
GRAIL
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...
, focused on
blood testing for
cancer tumors in the bloodstream. In 2017 the company had planned to raise $1 billion in its second round of financing, and received funding from
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
and
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...
investing $100 million in
series A funding
A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchan ...
, and with Illumina maintaining a 20% holding share in Grail. The company is working with a blood test trial with over 120,000 women during scheduled
mammogram
Mammography (also called mastography) is the process of using low-energy X-rays (usually around 30 Peak kilovoltage, kVp) to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, ty ...
visits in the states of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, as well as a partnership with the
Mayo Clinic. The company Grail uses Illumina sequencing technology for tests. The company plans to roll out the tests by 2019, with a cost of $500 per individual. In September 2020, Illumina announced a proposed cash and stock deal to acquire Grail for $8 billion.
In November 2018, the company proposed the acquisition of
Pacific Biosciences
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (aka PacBio) is an American biotechnology company founded in 2004 that develops and manufactures systems for gene sequencing and some novel real time biological observation. PacBio describes its platfor ...
for $8.00 per share or around $1.2 billion in total. In December 2019, the
Federal Trade Commission sued to block the acquisition. The proposed deal was abandoned on January 2, 2020, with Illumina paying Pacific a $98 million termination fee.
In March 2021, the FTC sued to block Illumina's $7.1 billion
vertical merger with GRAIL. In July 2021, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the GRAIL acquisition by Illumina.
Against the orders of active investigations by both the US Federal Trade Commission and the EU European Commission, Illumina publicly announced it had completed its acquisition of GRAIL on August 18, 2021. The FTC urged Illumina to "unwind" the merger shortly after, and in October 2021, the European Commission ordered Illumina to keep GRAIL a separate company and adopted interim measures to prevent harm to competition, or face penalty payments up to 5% of their average daily turnover and/or fines up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover under Articles 15 and 14 of the EU Merger Regulation respectively.
In September 2022, a US administrative judge ruled against the FTC's efforts to prevent the acquisition on antitrust grounds.
Acquisition history
The following is an illustration of the company's mergers, acquisitions,
spin-offs
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...
and historical predecessors:
*Illumina, Inc.
**Spyder Instruments
(Acq 1999)
**CyVera, Inc.
(Acq 2005)
**Solexa, Inc.
(Acq 2007)
***Solexa Ltd
(Merged 2005)
***Lynx Therapeutics Inc.
(Merged 2005)
**Avantome Inc.
(Acq 2008)
**Helixis, Inc.
(Acq 2010)
**Epicentre Biotechnologies
(Acq 2011)
**BlueGnome
(Acq 2012)
**Verinata Health, Inc.
(Acq 2013)
**Advanced Liquid Logic
(Acq 2013)
**NextBio
(Acq 2013)
**Myraqa
(Acq 2014)
**GenoLogics Life Sciences Software Inc.
(Acq 2015)
**Conexio Genomics
(Acq 2016)
**Edico Genome
(Acq 2018)
**Enancio
(Acq 2020)
**BlueBee
(Acq 2020)
Products
DNA sequencing
![Illumina MiSeq sequencer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Illumina_MiSeq_sequencer.jpg)
Illumina sells a number of high-throughput DNA sequencing systems, also known as DNA sequencers, based on technology developed by Solexa. The technology features bridge amplification to generate clusters and reversible terminators for sequence determination. The technology behind these sequencing systems involves ligation of fragmented DNA to a chip, followed by primer addition and sequential fluorescent
dNTP
A nucleoside triphosphate is a nucleoside containing a nitrogenous base bound to a 5-carbon sugar (either ribose or deoxyribose), with three phosphate groups bound to the sugar. They are the molecular precursors of both DNA and RNA, which are ...
incorporation and detection.
Three of the most popular Illumina sequencers are the MiSeq, HiSeq, and NovaSeq. From a single run, the MiSeq generates 30 million reads, the HiSeq generates 3 billion reads, and the NovaSeq generates 13 billion reads. Comparatively, the NovaSeq has the ability to generate 4 trillion bases in a day whereas
Sanger sequencing
Sanger sequencing is a method of DNA sequencing that involves electrophoresis and is based on the random incorporation of chain-terminating dideoxynucleotides by DNA polymerase during in vitro DNA replication. After first being developed by Fred ...
can only generate one million bases per day. New machines have the capacity to sequence the entire human genome in 48 hours at the price of $1,000. Illumina sequencers are highly accurate, and only have an error once every thousand bases.
Flow cells (MiSeq, HiSeq, and NovaSeq)
![Illumina NovaSeq 6000 flow cell](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Illumina_NovaSeq_6000_flow_cell.jpg)
Illumina sequencing happens within the ''flow cells''. These flow cells are small in size and are housed in the flow cell compartment. In MiSeq sequencers, the flow cell can generate between 1 million and 30 million reads per run. The HiSeq flow cell is larger than that of the MiSeq and has the ability to generate 3 billion reads per run. Lastly, the NovaSeq flow cell is the largest of the three and can generate 13 billion reads per run. Flow cell clustering happens when a
denatured DNA sample is placed in a flow cell.
Primers already in the flow cell channel capture and bind to the ends of the short denatured DNA sample. Then,
DNA polymerase
A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to create ...
is added and the DNA building blocks are introduced. This results in a newly synthesized strand constrained to the bottom of the flow cell. Next, the original template strand is washed out binding the newly synthesized strand to the other DNA sequence present on the surface. DNA polymerase and building blocks are introduced again forming a new strand. These steps are repeated until about 1,000 copies are made in a cluster.
Litigation
Czarnik suit against Illumina
In 2005, co-founder and former
Chief Scientific Officer Anthony Czarnik sued Illumina. In the case,
Czarnik v. Illumina Inc., the trial court granted Illumina's motion to dismiss in part but allowed Czarnik's correction of inventorship claims to continue.
Cornell University and Life Technologies suit against Illumina
In 2010,
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
and
Life Technologies filed a lawsuit against Illumina, alleging that its microarray products infringed on eight patents held by the university and exclusively licensed to the start-up. The case was settled in April 2017 without any finding of fault. In September 2017 both parties asked to have the settlement reviewed, with Cornell accusing both Illumina and
Life Technologies of misrepresentation and fraud. Cornell claimed that ThermoFisher had promised to settle the suit with Illumina and asked for the Markman wording to be dropped so that it could file a subsequent suit involving other patents invented at Cornell. Instead of filing the suit, ThermoFisher and Illumina settled another lawsuit in California and secretly sublicensed those very same patents. In 2018, Dr. Monib Zirvi filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Illumina and some of its key employees claiming that they knowingly incorporated ideas and ZipCode DNA sequences invented in the Barany Lab in Illumina's patent applications. Although this suit was dismissed, it was only after Illumina and its attorneys claimed that some of those IP misappropriation were “storm warnings” and thus statutes of limitations had run out on those particular claims. Dr. Monib Zirvi also filed a FOIA case in New Jersey in 2020 for unredacted copies for key NIH grants that Illumina filed early in its existence. William Noon, an in-house attorney at Illumina, had filed a FOIA request for 4 of these key grants as well in January 2015.
Patent infringement suits
Illumina was a party in a patent lawsuit against competitor Ariosa Diagnostics. The litigation began in 2012 with Verinata Health filing suit against Ariosa. Illumina joined the suit after acquiring Verinata in 2013. Ariosa subsequently brought a counterclaim against Illumina. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Ariosa, but the
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...
reversed. Ariosa initially pursued an appeal to the
Supreme Court of the United States, but the two parties resolved the dispute before the Court decided whether to take the case.
In February 2016, Illumina filed a lawsuit against
Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited is a UK-based company which is developing and selling nanopore sequencing products (including the portable DNA sequencer, MinION) for the direct, electronic analysis of single molecules.
History
The company ...
. Illumina claimed that Oxford Nanopore infringed its patents on the use of a biological nanopore, ''
Mycobacterium smegmatis
''Mycobacterium smegmatis'' is an acid-fast bacterial species in the phylum ''Actinomycetota'' and the genus ''Mycobacterium''. It is 3.0 to 5.0 µm long with a bacillus shape and can be stained by Ziehl–Neelsen method and the auramine-rh ...
'' porinA (MspA), for sequencing systems. In August 2016 the parties settled their lawsuit.
In February 2020, Illumina filed a patent infringement suit against BGI relating to its "CoolMPS" sequencing products. In return BGI has filed
patent infringement lawsuits for violation of
federal antitrust and
California unfair competition laws, claiming use of "fraudulent behavior" to obtain or enforce sequencing patents that it has asserted against BGI, preventing the firm from entering the US market. However, in May 2022, Illumina was ordered to pay $333 million to a U.S. unit of
BGI in California for infringing two patents of DNA-sequencing systems. The jury of the case also said that Illumina willfully infringed the patents, and that their former accusation of BGI's infringement was invalid.
On May 6, 2022, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware rendered a verdict that Illumina willfully infringed two patents owned by
Complete Genomics
Complete Genomics is a life sciences company that has developed and commercialized a DNA sequencing platform for human genome sequencing and analysis. This solution combines the company's proprietary human genome sequencing technology with its in ...
, and awarded approximately $334 million to CGI in past damages. The jury also invalidated three patents owned by Illumina.
Trade secrets suit against Eltoukhy and Talasaz
In March 2022, Illumina sued
Helmy Eltoukhy and Amir Talasaz, the co-founders of
Guardant, over stealing trade secrets.
Guardant called the lawsuit “frivolous and retaliatory” and framed it as a response to its concerns about the Illumina-Grail merger.
Guardant also claimed the lawsuit was filed in order to suppress competition in the marketplace.
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 32.8875924, -117.1730577, display=title
Companies based in San Diego
Health care companies based in California
Biotechnology companies of the United States
Genomics companies
American companies established in 1998
Biotechnology companies established in 1998
1998 establishments in California
Microarrays
DNA sequencing
2000 initial public offerings