EDGC signs strategic partnership agreement with China's GPBio

SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Eone-Diagnomics Genome Center Co., Ltd.("EDGC"), South Korea's global leading provider of genetic analysis services, and GPBio Corporation, a leading genetic testing and analysis company in China, have announced the signing of Strategic Partnership Agreement. Under the agreement the two companies will develop and expand the Asian markets for consumer/clinical genomics services based on their complementary genetic analysis capabilities.

EDGC, a joint venture established by San Diego, California-based Diagnomics and South Korea-based EONE, is a global leading genomics company providing a wide range of clinical/consumer genetic services around the world. Equipped with cutting-edge genomics data analysis expertise, EDGC focuses on innovative services and product development based on Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Microarrays, and the company's services include but not limited to non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test (NICE^®), newborn genetic screening test (bebegene^®), ophthalmology genetic test (MyEyeGene^®), and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetic test (gene2me^®).

GPBio, headquartered in Shanghai, China, aims to be the leader in precision medicine in China through building the largest human genomic database and developing accurate genetic tests based on advanced biochip and sequencing technologies. The company cooperates closely with Fudan University, one of the most prestigious universities in China. Its Scientific Advisory Board comprises world-renowned scholars and members of the US. The company is marketing its genetic testing and analysis products and services in China in such areas as risk assessment in oncology, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

The two companies believe that the partnership will lead to strong cooperation in data acquisition and more product offering for the Asian population. Asian genomic data are so inadequate that the interpretation bias has long been a concern in the field. Previously, EDGC had already partnered with Illumina on the Global Screening Arrays ("GSA"), the world's largest international consortium led by Illumina, as the only Asian company among the twelve consortium members. GPBio has also partnered with Illumina to create genomic analysis chips for the Chinese population, and the company is the largest consumer of Illumina chips. This partnership between GPBio and EDGC will be an important step in an international collaboration on genomic analysis in the Asian population.

"We are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with GPBio, who offers complementary skills and capabilities, and expand our commercial activities into overseas markets while the competition is getting fierce," said Min Lee, CEO of EDGC. "Much of the current genomics industry is being developed around the western countries such as the US and Europe. Together with GPBio, however, we expected to take the lead in shaping and expanding the global genomics market by strengthening our leading positions in Asia's most important markets," he added.

SOURCE Eone Diagnomics Genome Center