By Bill Alpert
This week, the Broad Institute gene-sequencing lab said it read infants' DNA genomes in less than four hours, cutting an hour off the previous Guinness World Record. The point for investors is that the scientists used a new sequencing technology from Roche Diagnostics, rather than the tools of market leader Illumina.
Illumina systems dominate gene sequencing in research labs and the clinic, so Roche will need to show impressive speed, accuracy and economics for its new products to make a dent in Illumina's $4 billion in annual sales. Broad's speed record news coincides with a genomics conference this week, where the sequencing rivals are showing off their newest technologies.
Broad researchers said they demonstrated the feasibility of same-day reports of clinically relevant gene variants to those caring for newborns in intensive care. That is getting close to the turnaround time for other clinical lab tests. Fast sequencing could also make a difference in treating infections.
Compared with the decade it took for the first human genome sequence, the latest result is like the way top climbers now tackle Mt. Everest. Instead of spending weeks establishing a series of higher and higher camps on the mountain, they speed-climb it in a day.
Even Illumina had compliments.
"The serious investment by companies entering into sequencing speak to the continued strength and potential of the market," an Illumina spokesperson told Barron's. "It is an exciting moment for the entire industry when we see an advance in the speed of sequencing."
In its bid for the sequencing market, Roche introduced a new sequencing chemistry this year that it calls SBX, which can read longer lengths of DNA than Illumina's established SBS technology. That helps Roche generate more data, more quickly.
SBX will be used in Roche's new high-end sequencing system Axelios, which could hit the market in the first half of 2026, said Guggenheim Partners' Subbu Nambi in a Wednesday report from the American Society of Human Genetics meeting in Boston.
To get a sense of Roche's new offerings, Guggenheim debriefed Christopher Mason, a computational genomics professor at New York's Weill Cornell Medicine who had early access to the systems. Along with their superior speed, the Roche products seem competitive with Illumina's in accuracy, according to Guggenheim's report on the debriefing. Roche also seems willing to underprice Illumina.
Roche is pricing Axelios at $750,000, compared with about $1 million for Illumina's top sequencer.
Illumina stock has been a four-year heartbreak to investors since peaking in the biotech froth of the Covid-19 era. Since mid 2021, it has toppled from near $500, to a recent $96. Nambi, the Guggenheim analyst, rates it a Buy, with a $114 target price.
Illumina told Barron's that it will take considerable time for Roche's new technology to generate evidence showing it can deliver "accuracy, quality, consistency, and total end-to-end cost."
Research labs like Broad try every supplier's new systems, but the larger market of clinical labs adopts technology more slowly. And with $1 billion in annual spending on research and development, Illumina isn't standing still.
At the ASHG meeting this week, it showed a new chemistry that simultaneously reads DNA and the molecular tags that turn genes on and off, in ways that determine sickness or health. Illumina enjoys a competitive moat, said Guggenheim.
But Mason thinks Roche can make a good run at that barrier. If there was ever an obvious direct competitor to Illumina, Roche would be that threat, Guggenheim quoted the professor as saying. Mason expects Illumina and Roche to be the biggest clinical-sequencing suppliers in the next two to three years.
Write to Bill Alpert at william.alpert@barrons.com
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October 16, 2025 17:18 ET (21:18 GMT)
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