Francis Desouza on Omicron variant
From Illumina CEO explains what scientists are studying to determine if Omicron variant is more transm… · · Face the Nation
“What really is surprising about the genome of this variant is that it is so heavily mutated so we have over 50 new mutations, 30 of which are in the S gene which makes the S protein. The fact that there are so many that we haven't seen before coming from a virus that only mutates two to three times a month tells us that it's been somewhere mutating for a long time and we haven't seen it.”
On , Francis Desouza, Former President & Chief Executive Officer at Illumina, Inc., spoke about Omicron variant during Illumina CEO explains what scientists are studying to determine if Omicron variant is more transm… on Face the Nation.
About Francis Desouza
Francis deSouza, then CEO of Illumina, appeared on CNBC in December 2021 and January 2022 to discuss the company's role in COVID-19 genomic surveillance and its financial performance. In December 2021, deSouza stated that the U.S. had made progress in sequencing COVID-19 positives, reaching a national rate of five to ten percent in the prior three months, though he noted variability across states, with some sequencing 30 percent of positives and others only one percent. He described the Omicron variant as "surprisingly" heavily mutated, with over 50 new mutations, and said hypotheses for its emergence included chronic infection in an immunocompromised person, animal-to-human transmission, or circulation in an unsequenced population. He also said the U.K. had been a leader in genomic surveillance since April 2020, while most other countries did not follow until December 2020. In January 2022, deSouza said Illumina's 2021 revenue grew 39 percent over the previous year and that the company guided for 14 to 16 percent growth in 2022, which he described as "significantly ahead" of expectations. He attributed the growth to expanding reimbursement for genomic testing, noting that over one billion people worldwide had reimbursement for some form of genomic testing, with expectations to reach two billion in a few years. He also said that over 117 countries were using Illumina for COVID genomic surveillance, and that the company's Grail cancer detection test was signing up employers and healthcare providers.