Ariosa Diagnostics (San Jose, California) is releasing in the U.S. and Canada its Harmony Prenatal Test for detecting fetal trisomies in maternal blood. To be distributed through Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp), the test analyzes cell-free DNA (cfDNA), which are free floating DNA fragments, some of which that are in the mother’s blood come from the fetus.
Harmony utilizes directed DNA analysis, which is cheaper and more precise than random sequencing, aka shotgun sequencing, to spot aneuploid chromosomes.
From the announcement:
The Harmony Prenatal Test, which detects common fetal trisomies such as Trisomy 21 (associated with Down syndrome), will be offered through LabCorp and will be available at its 1,000+ patient service centers. The test is performed using a simple maternal blood draw taken at a doctor’s office or patient service center, and provides the safety of screening tests with accuracy approaching that of invasive testing for common fetal trisomies. The test is available to pregnant women of at least 10 weeks gestational age with a single fetus conceived without the use of an egg donor.
Press release: Ariosa Diagnostics Announces Nationwide Launch of the Harmony™ Prenatal Test Through LabCorp…
Product page: Harmony Prenatal Test…