Navigenics acquires Affymetrix clinical services laboratory

Navigenics, a genomics testing company, has acquired the Affymetrix clinical services laboratory, a CLIA-certified testing facility that provides molecular genome scanning using the Affymetrix GeneChip microarray platform.

With the purchase of this testing facility, Navigenics can now offer fully integrated genome screening and analysis under one roof.

Navigenics said that the move to acquire in-house screening capabilities was driven in large part by a growing interest in the company’s genome testing services, through increased online sales to consumers and physicians as well as expanding enrollment in clinical study programs with partners such as Scripps Translational Science Institute and MDVIP.

The newly renamed Navigenics Laboratory, which is based in West Sacramento, California, currently provides DNA scanning for a number of other Affymetrix customers as well as Navigenics’s genome testing services.

Vance Vanier, chief medical officer of Navigenics, said: Acquiring our own clinical laboratory gives Navigenics the flexibility and capacity to better respond to the growing demand for our genome testing services.

The unique features and benefits of Affymetrix microarray processing technologies have been a critical component of our quest to make personalized health and wellness information accessible to the public, and we will continue to utilize its advanced genotyping technology at the Navigenics-managed lab.