Quest Diagnostics are teaming up to help meet the rapidly growing consumer demand for genetic tests that provide insights into genetic ethnicity, origins and other factors. The new collaboration will allow AncestryDNA to scale its testing services and pave the way for new wellness offerings.
Under a new multi-year global collaboration, Quest Diagnostics will provide genotyping test services on behalf of Ancestry's AncestryDNA, a service that today identifies and quantifies an individual's ethnic origins based on results of DNA testing. In just over four years, AncestryDNA has grown to become the world's largest consumer genomics provider, with more than two million consumer DNA samples in its database.
"We are very excited to be partnering with Quest Diagnostics to offer our consumer DNA test to more consumers around the world," said Tim Sullivan, chief executive officer of Ancestry. "There's an inherent human need to learn more about who we are as individuals and how we connect to the world around us. As the success of AncestryDNA has already demonstrated, the stories and revelations contained within our DNA can have incredibly meaningful, life-altering effects that change how we think about ourselves and our world."
"People are very interested in their family history, and knowing one's family health history is very important in helping us manage our health," said Steve Rusckowski, Quest Diagnostics president and CEO. "Sharing our unique capabilities with Ancestry will help everyone learn more about themselves. We look forward to leveraging our tremendous expertise in genetic testing and information to offer a first-in-class experience to Ancestry and its customers."
"Quest stood out from all others through the breadth of their vision and their unwavering commitment to quality, as well as being well positioned to partner with us to provide wellness and health traits," said Ken Chahine, EVP and GM of AncestryDNA.
"Adding a second diagnostic partner is a critical step forward as we work to continue to meet the consumer demand we're seeing for our DNA tests in the US and markets around the world. We'll also now be able to move toward an East-West logistical approach, testing kits closer to where our consumers live and, ideally, reducing the time they need to wait to receive their results."
Opened in 2014, the 200,000 square foot laboratory can accommodate expected growing demand for AncestryDNA. Quest expects to begin performing testing for Ancestry in the first quarter of 2017. Over time, the two companies intend to explore additional opportunities such as developing tools and applications to guide people on building and understanding their "family medical tree."
