Inside Applera: Celera Genomics Becomes Applied Bio's Diagnostics Angel

Applera Corp. 's July 24 announcement of a $75 million high-throughout genotyping initiative to be equally funded by its three businesses, Celera Genomics Group , Applied Biosystems Group (ABI), and Celera Diagnostics (a joint venture of Celera Genomics and ABI), coupled with its conference call two days later to discuss earnings, has provided a context for the company to begin to reveal its diagnostics strategy. New information about the structure of the joint venture, in which Celera Genomics is absorbing the short-term financial risk by covering the JV's initial operating losses, also sheds more light on the acceleration of Celera Genomics' business strategy as it moves away from an information-based genomics platform model toward that of a partnering-oriented pharmaceutical company. (See "The Proteomic Evolution of Celera, Incyte and Myriad," START-UP, June 2001 [A#2001900098.)

The new genotyping program is a way for Applera to further leverage the return on its human genome sequencing investment....