One-on-One with Natera founder Jonathan Sheena

Jonathan Sheena of Natera.

The prenatal testing industry is shaping up as one of the most competitive in the medical diagnostics arena, and the Bay Area has become a center of innovation and new-company formation with the likes of Aria Diagnostics in San Jose, Verinata Health in Redwood City and Natera Inc. in San Carlos. What's more, as my colleague Diana Samuels wrote earlier this year, the fight has turned to the courtroom as Bay Area test makers challenge each other and Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM), the San Diego-based company that was first to the market with a non-invasive test. The competition makes it all the more important for these companies to prove that their technology is best, and one of the more aggressive companies in that regard has been Natera. I spoke recently with Jonathan Sheena, Natera's founder and chief technology officer, about the company's non-invasive prenatal tests, its ongoing clinical trials, its hiring and its attempts to win insurance coverage for its tests.

Prenatal test market soars on new tech

For years, the maternal medicine industry has been waiting for a test that can accurately screen fetuses for genetic conditions, without the need for an invasive amniocentesis.
“Everyone’s told me it’s the holy grail of prenatal testing,” said Winny Tan, an analyst at Mountain View-based Frost & Sullivan.
Now, the holy grail is here. A slew of companies, including some local ones, are beginning to commercialize their products and raise substantial amounts of funding to create simple blood tests to detect conditions such as Down syndrome. The tests could someday replace amniocentesis procedures, which carry a risk of miscarriage. It’s also creating a competitive space in a $1.3 billion prenatal testing market.

Prenatal testing company Natera raises $20M

Gene Security Network Inc., a Redwood City-based preconception and prenatal genetic testing company, completed a $20 million financing round and changed its name to Natera Inc.
Lightspeed Venture Partners of Menlo Park led the round, Natera said Friday, joined by Claremont Creek Ventures of Oakland and Sequoia Capital of Menlo Park.
The cash will help Natera launch a non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test for Down syndrome and other genetic conditions as well as allow it to expand a key National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trial.