Sequenom Partners With The Perinatal Quality Foundation

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM), a life sciences company committed to enabling healthier lives through the development of innovative products and services, announced today a partnership with the Perinatal Quality Foundation (PQF) to support an educational program and the creation of a Genetic Education Module to help health care personnel and their patients better understand and navigate the prenatal testing process. The mission of the program is to develop a standardized education and credentialing process for health care personnel providing pre- and post-testing information, and to provide tools and educational resources to allow each woman to make better informed personal genetic testing decisions.

"The Perinatal Quality Foundation welcomes Sequenom's support of this important nationwide program," said Mary Norton, M.D., President of the Perinatal Quality Foundation and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at University of California, San Francisco. "This critical partnership will greatly assist us in achieving our vision of providing each pregnant woman in the U.S. with access to knowledgeable personnel and educational resources to enable her to choose the most appropriate prenatal testing decisions for management of her pregnancy."

The prenatal genetic testing industry has seen significant advancements, including the availability of cell free DNA (cfDNA) analysis for noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), expanded carrier screening and the introduction of chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA). The Genetic Education Module will seek to develop and disseminate information to advance the understanding and appropriate clinical use of these new technologies through the development of objective, evidence-based educational tools and resources that aim to help a woman make genetic testing decisions that are consistent with her own preferences and values.

"The PQF Genetic Education Module addresses a significant unmet need for unbiased and high-quality genetic education among health care providers and patients," said Mary D'Alton, M.D., Chair of The Pregnancy Foundation and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. "We are delighted that Sequenom has joined us in support of this important project."

"This PQF program promises to bridge a major knowledge gap in the rapidly evolving prenatal testing field. Sequenom is proud to be a sponsor of this landmark educational initiative, which will support informed and responsible use of innovative pregnancy management approaches, such as NIPT," said Daniel Grosu, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Sequenom.

PQF's far-reaching educational initiative will include complementary websites for patients and health care personnel. The websites and accompanying tools will be designed to provide adequate knowledge and understanding to providers by offering basic and accurate explanations of genetic tests to most patients, and identify patients who will benefit from a referral to a genetic counselor or geneticist. The Genetic Educational Module is expected to launch in early 2016.

About Sequenom 

Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) is committed to enabling healthier lives through the development of innovative products and services. The Company serves patients and physicians by providing early patient management information. To learn how Sequenom is interpreting the genome to improve your life, visit www.sequenom.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the development of innovative products and services, the ability to develop a standardized education and credentialing process for health care personnel providing pre- and post-testing information, and to provide tools and educational resources to allow each woman to make better informed personal genetic testing decisions, the ability of the partnership to assist the Perinatal Quality Foundation in achieving its vision of providing each woman in the U.S. with access to knowledgeable personnel and educational resources to enable her to choose the most appropriate prenatal testing decisions for management of her pregnancy, the ability of the Genetic Education Module to develop and disseminate information to advance the understanding and appropriate clinical use of new technologies, the ability of the Genetic Education Module to bridge a major knowledge gap in the rapidly evolving prenatal testing field, the ability of the Genetic Education Module to support informed and responsible use of innovative pregnancy management approaches, such as NIPT, the expectation that the websites and accompanying tools of the Genetic Education Module will provide adequate knowledge and understanding to providers by offering basic and accurate explanations of genetic tests to most patients, and identify patients who will benefit from a referral to a genetic counselor or geneticist and the expectation that the Genetic Educational Module will launch in early 2016.  Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Risks are described more fully in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation the Company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other documents subsequently filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission.  All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made.  The Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

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SOURCE Sequenom, Inc.

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