BREAKING NEWS SEC investigating Sequenom, owner of GR laboratory

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into Sequenom Inc., the California company that last year purchased a Grand Rapids laboratory and promised to create 523 local jobs.

In a filing with the SEC, the public firm based in San Diego said that it was notified on Monday that the SEC is investigating Sequenom’s April 29 announcement that four employees had compromised clinical research data for its SEQureDX test for Down syndrome.

That announcement followed several information releases from the company that indicated the test had been showing near 100 percent accuracy.

“On June 29, 2009, we received written notification that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has initiated an investigation relating to our April 29, 2009 announcement regarding our SEQureDx Down syndrome test,” Sequenom said in a filing with the SEC on Tuesday.

“We intend to cooperate fully with the SEC in this matter. Our internal investigation is ongoing.”

The SEQureDX test, which analyzes fetal DNA material circulating in the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy, was considered to be Sequenom’s flagship in the product pipeline.

Sequenom last year secured state and city tax breaks with a promise to hire more than 500 people to process SEQureDX tests through the Center for Molecular Medicine. Van Andel Institute and Spectrum Health established the lab, accredited for human specimen processing under federal CLIA regulations, as a joint venture. They sold it to Sequenom in November for $4 million and stock.

Sequenom also is facing several lawsuits regarding the information it released about the test.