On June 21, 2022 Ultima Genomics, Inc. and Exact Sciences Corporation (Nasdaq: EXAS) reported that they have entered a long-term supply agreement for Ultima’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies (Press release, Exact Sciences, JUN 21, 2022, View Source [SID1234616123]). Under the terms of the supply agreement, Ultima Genomics will provide access to its NGS products, which are based on a new architecture designed to enable sequencing at a fraction of the cost of other commercially available technologies . The companies also plan to develop one or more of Exact Sciences’ advanced cancer diagnostic tests using Ultima’s sequencing technology. In conjunction with the agreement, Exact Sciences became an investor in Ultima and joined its ongoing early access program for its high-throughput NGS instrument platform, the UG 100. The collaboration is aimed at driving down the high cost of sequencing to improve patient access to genomics-based testing and human health.

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"Exact Sciences believes access to differentiated and affordable genomics technologies is critical to providing patients better information before diagnosis and across all stages of cancer treatment," said Kevin Conroy, chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences. "Ultima’s mission to drive down the cost of sequencing and increase the use of genomic information supports our goal to provide accurate and affordable testing options across the cancer continuum. This is particularly important for applications like cancer screening, minimal residual disease, and recurrence monitoring, which could lead to millions of tests per year."

"We founded Ultima Genomics with the mission to continuously drive the scale of genomic information. We believe our mission is closely aligned with the goals of our customers, and we look forward to enabling Exact Sciences and others to perform sequencing at a fraction of the cost today," said Gilad Almogy, CEO of Ultima Genomics. "We designed our new sequencing architecture to scale beyond conventional technologies, and are excited to soon make the UG 100, our first instrument using this architecture, commercially available to more customers. In the future, we aim to continuously improve our technology, further drive down costs, and increase the scale of genomic information to improve patient outcomes."

Over the last 5 years, Ultima Genomics has developed a fundamentally new sequencing architecture designed to scale beyond conventional approaches, including completely different flow cell engineering and sequencing chemistry, and machine learning. Ultima is currently in an early access program for the UG 100, its first high-throughput NGS instrument using this new technology architecture.