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Genome prenatal test slated 'world-class' product by government
EDGC co-CEO Shin Sang-cheol, right, receives the "Korean World-class Product Award 2019" from Cho Young-shin, middle market enterprise policy division chief of the Korean Ministry of Trade and Industry, Nov. 21. Courtesy of EDGC
By Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
A prenatal test service by Korean genetics sequencing and analyzing firm EDGC has won the Korean government's designation of world-class product this year, further enhancing the company's global recognition.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry on Nov. 21 selected, among others, EDGC NICE, the company's non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT), for “Korean World-class Product Award 2019.”
The title is restricted to a product with a global market share of 5 percent or higher and ranked fifth or better in the world. It recognized EDGC's “contribution to the future development of NIPT” and “commitment to Korea's high-technology exports.”
A NIPT category has never won the title before.
The global company, based in Songdo, Incheon, presented its research report on NIPT to the American Society of Human Genetics' annual conference in 2018.
NICE was introduced by company co-CEO Lee Min-seob, who had worked at the San Diego-based Sequenom. The American firm commercialized NIPT for the first time in the world.
NICE has been sold to over 20 countries including Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Turkey. It competes with China's BGI and America's Illumina and Natera.
The global NIPT market as of 2017 was $1.2 billion, while the world genome sequencing and analyzing market was $5.8 billion, according to EDGC.
“NICE was our first genome prognostic service to compete in the global genetics market,” EDGC co-CEO Shin Sang-cheol said.
“Since we first commercialized NICE in 2014 and have been aggressively investing in it since, the test service this year has grown 5,000 percent.”
The company predicted NIPT's global market will grow as it is recommended for pregnant women of all ages by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Apart from NIPT, EDGC has developed prognosis methods targeting illnesses, including cancers, using liquid biopsy technologies.
The company passed the U.S. federal regulatory standards of Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments in July. The two-year licensing is its second in a row.