Solexa Genome Analysis System Achieves 1G Performance Milestone

Solexa, Inc. today provided an update on milestones related to its Solexa Genome Analysis System. Recent achievements include completion of Solexa’s Early Access program; achievement of the 1G performance milestone; demonstration of the 1G Genome Analyzer’s utility across a wide range of applications; completion of the largest project performed on a next-generation sequencing platform; and inauguration of commercial genomics services employing the Solexa Genome Analysis System.

“I salute the employees of Solexa for accomplishing the ambitious goals we laid out in 2005 and early 2006,” said John West, chief executive officer of Solexa. “Their vision, technical excellence and hard work have led us to achieve these important landmarks, which we believe positions Solexa as a leader in next-generation sequencing.”

Solexa’s accomplishments in the fourth quarter include:

• Completion of the Early Access commercialization phase. In 2006 Solexa shipped 13 systems to ten customers in five countries. Important Early Access milestones include attaining robust and consistent performance across sites in the US and abroad and honing Solexa’s operations and field support activities to support a growing installed base. In the fourth quarter Solexa began to invoice and receive payment from Early Access customers. Beginning in this first quarter, Solexa intends to make the system broadly available to customers.
• Achievement of 1G performance milestone. Solexa has completed multiple runs on multiple instruments that have yielded over 1 gigabase (one billion bases) of high-quality DNA sequence data per flow cell after filtering, making the Solexa Genome Analysis System the first platform to reach this important milestone. Recent contributors to improvements in system throughput and accuracy include various hardware refinements that were largely implemented at customer sites; more powerful computational algorithms yielding more high-quality reads; faster instrument software; and improved protocols yielding denser clusters. Solexa intends to continue to implement these improvements at customer sites and expects to begin recognizing revenue on the sale of instrument systems in the first quarter of 2007.
• Demonstration of the 1G Genome Analyzer’s versatility. To date, genome-scale experiments by customers or Solexa include resequencing, gene expression, small RNA and specialty tag sequencing assays such as DNase hypersensitivity detection and ChIP. Customers with installed systems include academic and commercial laboratories, including genome centers and core labs.
• Progress on Solexa Genome Initiative. Earlier this quarter, Solexa announced the completion of the largest sequencing project to date on a next-generation platform, the sequencing of a human X-chromosome by scientists at Solexa and a collaborator. The company has also undertaken a draft of a whole human genome sequence. Solexa intends to add additional sequence data over the course of 2007, to present the data at upcoming scientific conferences and to release the data publicly.
• Inauguration of commercial genomics services activities. Key milestones accomplished include delivering data to customers and receiving payment for Solexa Genome Analysis System projects. Customer projects completed in the fourth quarter of 2006 included resequencing, expression profiling and specialty tag sequencing assays.

“We believe that the Solexa Genome Analysis System is delivering on its promise to enable researchers worldwide to resequence whole human genomes at a fraction of the cost and time required by other platforms and to address a range of important genetic analysis applications,” continued Mr. West. “We expect our customers to exceed the 1G performance milestone in 2007 as they continue to optimize operation of the Solexa Genome Analysis system. Solexa looks forward to continued success in 2007.”

As previously reported, Illumina, Inc. and Solexa have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Illumina has agreed to acquire Solexa in a stock-for-stock merger.