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US Genomics' New Resolution

 
• By Mark Ratner

In distancing itself from developing technology for single-molecule genome sequencing, US Genomics has partly moved from developing a potentially disruptive technology to providing incremental improvements, first in genomics research. The appeal is that the start-up can get to the market and generate product revenues faster. But whether its new focus will provide the big margins or access to big markets that venture investors find appealing remains an open question.

When Stephen DeFalco became CEO of US Genomics Inc. (USG) two and a half years ago, he took over a start-up that had overpromised on a technology and needed to retool. Since USG's formation in 1997, founder Eugene Chan had been articulating a vision of being able to read the sequence of an entire genome continuously, base pair by base pair, by feeding full-length DNA through an instrument like running film through a projector. Such a technology would be fast, accurate, and would enable the so-called $1,000 genome—the price point at which sequencing any person's genome from scratch becomes clinically feasible, according to current thinking.

But four years after founding the company, Chan's team remained dogged by a core issue facing start-ups pursuing single-molecule sequencing...

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