Oxford Nanopore Technologies announced the launch of a new Pharmacogenomics (PGx) Beta Program to advance personalised medicine, combining Twist Bioscience?s next generation sequencing (NGS) target enrichment technology with Oxford Nanopore?s sequencing platform. The newly unveiled Twist-Oxford Nanopore long-read PGx solution, which is now available for research use, is designed to provide unambiguous genetic results in a single end-to-end workflow from sample to PGx star allele call, alleviating the need for time-consuming and costly follow-up tests in contrast to conventional methods. The beta program aims to increase the diversity of genetic variants evaluated by Oxford Nanopore?s platform.

The PGx beta program has successfully achieved full resolution of the CYP2D6 gene in a single assay. CYP2D6 is responsible for metabolizing 20% of drugs on the market and is one of the most challenging genes to sequence due to its complex structure. The Twist Alliance Long-Read PGx Panel coupled with Chinook, Oxford Nanopore?s CYP2D6-specific allele caller, demonstrated 100% CYP2D6 reference concordance, overcoming the limitations of conventional sequencing technologies.

Key features of the PGx Beta Program include: Comprehensive CYP2D6 assay: Achieving full gene resolution in a single test. Integration with Oxford Nanopore devices: Twist?s Library Preparation Reagents and Target Enrichment Panels will be integrated with Oxford Nanopores? MinION and PromethION flow cells, enabling flexibility in throughput and offering customers a seamless and powerful toolset for Oxford Nanopore sequencing.

Continuous innovation and compatibility testing: Ongoing evaluations to ensure compatibility with Twist?s hybrid capture panels, including exploration of the Twist Alliance Dark Genes Panel and the Twist Exome 2.0, potentially broadening the scope of genetic research and clinical applications.