Prenatal screening without paternal samples
BillionToOne
This is a workflow breakthrough disguised as a science breakthrough. Traditional carrier screening for recessive disorders often stalls because the mother tests positive first, then the practice has to track down the father for a second blood or saliva sample before fetal risk can be calculated. UNITY turns that into a one visit test by reading fetal DNA already circulating in the mother's blood, which lets an OB/GYN order, collect, and finish the screen without chasing a partner sample.
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The operational gain is simple, fewer handoffs. OB practices do not need to call the partner, send a second kit, wait for another lab result, or lose the case when the partner is unavailable. That makes screening easier to fit into a standard prenatal visit and raises the odds the test actually gets completed.
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The competitive angle is that BillionToOne is not just another NIPT lab looking for chromosomal abnormalities. It uses its QCT counting technology to estimate fetal risk for single gene conditions like cystic fibrosis, SMA, and sickle cell disease from maternal blood alone, while larger prenatal players have historically relied more on sequential carrier workflows.
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That convenience shows up in the business. BillionToOne reached roughly 500,000 prenatal tests processed and an estimated $153M of revenue in 2024, with the company page describing rapid share gains in a market still led by Natera. A simpler ordering path helps explain why OB focused distribution scaled quickly.
The next step is expanding the same one draw logic into a broader prenatal menu. The 2025 expansion of UNITY Fetal Risk Screen to 14 recessive and X linked conditions points toward a prenatal workflow where the maternal blood draw becomes the default entry point for more genetic decisions, giving BillionToOne more leverage with OB practices and more room to take share from multi sample legacy pathways.