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Sequenom and Lenetix Enter Agreement to Develop and Commercialize Rhesus D Prenatal Diagnostic

31 Jan 2007 - Sequenom, Inc. and Lenetix Medical Screening Laboratory, Inc., a provider of rapid genetic screening and diagnostic testing, announced that they have entered into a collaboration and license agreement to develop and commercialize a proprietary non-invasive prenatal Rhesus D (RhD) incompatibility test based on Sequenom patent rights and RT PCR methodology. The RhD test, Sequenom's first non-invasive prenatal test, is expected to be marketed as a home brew test in the U.S. in the first half of 2007. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
 
RhD blood group incompatibility between a pregnant woman and her fetus is a significant health problem due to the possibility of maternal alloimmunization and consequent hemolytic disease of newborns. Although the pregnancy in which alloimmunization first occurs results in an unaffected child, future children are at substantial risk of anemia and, in the worst cases, fetal death.