Thermo Fisher expands NGS automation to all clinical labs for faster cancer care

Kathy Davy, President of Thermo Fisher's Clinical Sequencing Division, outlined the company's vision for precision medicine in an interview with SelectScience. While specialization in genomics remains important, Thermo Fisher is pursuing a strategy to bring next-generation sequencing to all clinical labs with full automation and end-to-end capabilities, allowing labs to deliver answers to patients locally rather than routing samples to distant specialty centers. The company's Genexus product exemplifies this approach, enabling any laboratory technician—not just specialists—to perform NGS testing. Davy emphasized that both automation and AI play critical roles in making this possible, as they enable clinical labs and patients to receive cancer treatment guidance faster. The company recognizes a tension between two objectives: simplifying workflows to ensure any technician can run tests reliably, and continuing to innovate as new biomarkers become clinically relevant and cancer science evolves. Thermo Fisher's position is that both goals must be pursued in parallel—simplification enables access, while ongoing innovation ensures the science stays current. Looking ahead five years, Davy projects that all patients with an actionable mutation will have access to precision medicine, driven by products like Genexus that localize testing and make it accessible in any clinical lab, regardless of size or prior specialization in genomics.