Good Start Genetics and Roche Join to Make Screening Tool Available to Mothers-to-be

Good Start Genetics and Roche Diagnostics have entered into a marketing agreement to sell Good Start’s GeneVu carrier screening service for inherited genetic disorders, such as cystic fibrosis (CF) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

Under the terms of the contract, Roche Diagnostics will provide obstetricians and general practitioners in the U.S. who are caring for pregnant women with GeneVu carrier screening test service in conjunction with its Harmony non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) service. The Harmony Prenatal Test is a blood screening DNA test for trisomies 21 (Down syndrome), 18, and 13 that delivers accurate results from as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy.

“We are excited to announce our collaboration with Roche Diagnostics to address the significant market need for prenatal carrier screening utilizing our proprietary next generation sequencing technology platform,” Jeffrey Luber, president and CEO of Good Start Genetics, said in a press release.

GeneVu is a screening service to detect genetic diseases. With the service, patients and their doctors can select the tests of relevance to patients based on their medical and family history, ethnicity, and the guidelines of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG). These two organizations recommend that women of reproductive age should be offered with genetic testing for both CF and SMA.

“The agreement with Good Start Genetics will enable Roche to offer a broader range of screening services to healthcare professionals who provide care for pregnant women and for parents involved in planning a family,” Whitney Green, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations for Roche Diagnostics, said. “Good Start’s GeneVu service is an innovative test that will complement our Harmony prenatal test service to allow prospective parents to confidently assess the risk of various genetic conditions in themselves and in the child.”