Sequenom jumps on recommendation for cell-free fetal DNA testing

Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ:SQNM) jumped $0.50 (14%) to $4.19 on Wednesday after the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine recommended late Tuesday that physicians offer cell-free fetal DNA testing to women at increased risk of aneuploidy. In a joint opinion, the physician groups said that the non-invasive approach should be offered as a primary screening option to women who are 35 years or older; who have had a prior pregnancy with a trisomy or had fetal sonographic findings; who have a parental balanced robertsonian translocation; or who have had a positive first- or second-trimester screening result for aneuploidy. The groups said cell-free fetal DNA testing should not be offered as an option to low-risk women or women with multiple gestations because it "has not been sufficiently evaluated" in those groups. ...