Amgen Puts $66 Million Into Maker of Pocket-Sized DNA Sequencer

  • Oxford Nanopore is known for its portable sequencing machine
  • Equity investment gives Amgen a stake in closely-held company

Source: KTSDESIGN Science Photo Library via Getty Images

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Amgen Inc. is buying a $66 million stake in Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd., whose small, portable DNA sequencer has made it a darling of U.K. genetics work.

Oxford Nanopore makes a range of genetic-sequencing technologies but it’s best known for the MinION, a pocket-sized sequencer that for $1,000 gives scientists the ability to study life essentially in real time -- and has sequenced genes in destinations as far-flung as space. Earlier this month, the company released the MinIT, a tiny data-analysis tool that makes the MinION more portable and powerful.