Toward the end of 2008, Sequenom was riding high at well over $25/share after announcing that they had developed a blood test that could detect Down syndrome in a fetus with 100% accuracy.  This was huge news, as the blood test is much less invasive than traditional amnio & CVS tests, which increase the risk of a miscarriage.

The stock fell off considerably in 2009, plummeting to less than $4/share after an insider trading scandal involving a former VP and the firing of several managers after it was discovered that they had presided over corruption of the data from its Down's test, SEQureDx.

Fast forward two years.  The company seems to have moved on from the sketchy shenanigans that brought it tumbling from such great heights to the brink of disaster.  Down's syndrome testing was back in the news this morning, splashed across the front page of the Washington Post.  There was an interesting article about the moral and ethical questions parents would face were they to know certain things about their unborn children...good reading on the metro after I left my damned baseball book in the office on Friday evening.  Bah!

Anyway, they didn't name any specific companies in the article, but after hearing of Sequenom briefly around the time of the scandal, it occurred to me to look them up.  Apparently, they are talking about seeking FDA approval for SEQureDx by year's end.  While it'll be a good while beyond that before any product or service is likely to hit the market, this seems to be moving closer to becoming a reality and a growing concern that will end up in the headlines more often in the coming months.

Given their history, Sequenom may not be the safest bet as far as investor confidence, but there's a big payout ahead if they are able to bring their product to market before the competition.