Year: 2017-18

Company: Roche Diagnostics Corporation

Liaison(s): Stella Redpath, James Harris, Alan Wright

Roche Diagnostics Corporation (RDC) is interested in ascertaining the impact of next generation sequencing (NGS) testing on anatomic pathology business in the context of companion diagnostics. NGS utilizes high-throughput DNA sequencing methods and can be used to identify genetic markers in cancer providing an avenue towards personalized medicine. Personalized medicine has become a desired healthcare milestone, which includes using new diagnostic tests to identify which individual patients will benefit from targeted therapies, or drugs, directed to specific mutations in cancer biomarkers. The NGS market is expected to rise from $3.8 billion in 2015 to $10.6 billion in 2020 (Kalorama, 2016). Of this total, almost 75% will come from consumable and services sold. Thus, NGS holds the potential to disrupt the technologies currently utilized in pathology, which is primarily dominated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The paradigm shift gives rise to the question if NGS would prove a threat to the anatomic pathology market, as well as subsequent inquiries regarding its impact on the workflow of anatomic pathologists and broader changes in industry, academia, and overall healthcare systems.

Our project involved establishing and researching market leaders within the in-vitro diagnostics market for cancer, compiling secondary studies, conducting primary interviews with pathologists and other key opinion leaders (KOLs), and analyzing stakeholder responses and positions on NGS, IHC, and other comparable technologies.