Illumina Singapore, subsidiary of US-based Illumina Inc and Chennai-based Trivitron Healthcare have entered into a strategic partnership to develop and expand the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based in-vitro diagnostic tests (IVD) in India.

Over the next four years, Illumina and Trivitron intend to develop and distribute a suite of standardized, commercial IVD assays to deliver an effective and non-invasive way of diagnosing cancers, determining infectious pathogens, and identifying prenatal diseases. The assays will be cost-effective, easy to use, and have high throughput capabilities.

In numerous neurological and rare disorders, where clinical characteristics can be confusing, NGS-based approaches have demonstrated considerable increases in disease detection rates over other approaches. Similarly, tailored NGS panels have allowed for the rapid, non-invasive, and cost-effective diagnosis and prognosis of a variety of malignancies, as well as the detection of infectious pathogens and the identification of a variety of prenatal disorders.