DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Roche Holding AG’s rivals Sanofi SA and Novartis AG see no need to match the Swiss drugmaker in buying a gene-decoding business like Illumina Inc and reckon they can do partnerships instead.

The relaxed attitude in the face of Roche’s $5.7 billion hostile bid for Illumina suggests the chance of a counterbid from big drugmakers is slim, although diagnostics and IT companies may yet show interest.

“Everybody is thinking about diagnostics but you can get access to this technology without necessarily having to acquire the company,” Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

U.S.-based Illumina is a major player in the emerging field of gene sequencing, which allows scientists to better predict those patients that are likely to respond to a particular drug.

The San Diego company makes machines that decode a person’s entire genome, going far beyond simple genetic tests that are already used in diseases such as cancer to test for a handful of gene variations.

Genetic profiling is getting increased attention from the global pharmaceuticals industry as companies move towards a new era of “personalized” medicine, designed to tailor treatment to particular patients.

That plays to the strengths of Roche, which is a major supplier of diagnostics tests as well as the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs.