OEM oligos are oligonucleotides made to your specification and shipped under your label, in the quantities and formats a product line needs rather than the tube-by-tube sizes a research catalog sells. The buyer is usually a kit manufacturer, a diagnostics developer or a contract lab that consumes the same primers and probes month after month, and the price is set by a supply agreement rather than a web form. This page explains how that agreement is built, which specifications move the price and where the comparison on this site fits.
What separates an OEM order from a catalog order
A catalog oligo is one sequence at one scale, priced per base with a purification option and shipped dry in a tube. An OEM order is the same chemistry with different economics: a fixed sequence set, a forecast volume, a delivery format (plates, bulk solution, lyophilized in your vial), a quality specification the supplier signs against, and change control so a lot made next year matches the lot made this year. The unit price falls with commitment, but the contract adds obligations on both sides that a catalog purchase never carries.
The specifications that set the price
Four decisions do most of the work. Scale, because synthesis cost per base drops sharply as the column size rises. Purification, because desalted material is cheap and HPLC or PAGE grades add a separate step and a yield loss. Modifications, because every dye, quencher, phosphorothioate linkage or locked base is a separate reagent at a separate cost. And release testing, because a certificate that reports mass spectrometry and purity on every lot is a real analytical burden the supplier prices in. Write these down before you ask for a quote, or the quotes you receive will not be comparable.
Questions to settle before a supply agreement
Ask where the oligos are made and whether that site holds a quality certification your product will need. Ask for the lot-to-lot acceptance criteria in writing and for a sample certificate of analysis. Ask how a sequence change or a scale change is handled and what notice a discontinued modification gets. Ask about minimum order quantities, lead time at your forecast, and what happens to price if the forecast is missed. Finally ask for a second-source plan, because a single supplier for a product's critical reagent is a risk your own customers will eventually ask you about.
Where the price comparison helps
The vendor pages on this site record what each synthesis vendor publishes for standard oligos, verified on the vendor's own page and dated. That figure is not your OEM price, but it is the honest starting point: a vendor whose published per-base price is high rarely becomes the cheapest OEM source, and a vendor who publishes nothing is a vendor you will be negotiating with blind. Use the comparison to build a shortlist of three, then send the same written specification to each.
Questions people ask about oem oligos
What does OEM mean for oligos?
Original equipment manufacturer supply: oligonucleotides synthesised to your sequence and specification and delivered under your label or into your product, under a supply agreement rather than a per-tube catalog price.
How is an OEM oligo price quoted?
Usually per base at a stated scale and purification, with modifications and release testing itemised, against a forecast volume and a minimum order. Two quotes are only comparable if the specification behind them is identical.
Do I need HPLC purification for OEM oligos?
Only if the application needs it. Standard primers for PCR are usually fine desalted; probes with dyes, long oligos and anything going into a regulated product generally justify HPLC and a certificate of analysis on every lot.
Can a research vendor supply OEM oligos?
Most large synthesis vendors have an OEM or custom manufacturing arm alongside the catalog. The catalog price they publish is the place to start the conversation, not the price you will pay.