| Seegene CEO Chun Jong-yoon / Courtesy of Seegene |
This is the second in a series of articles to highlight the growing importance of the biotech industry after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and shed light on the nation's biotech companies. ― ED.
By Baek Byung-yeul
At a time when the government is striving to foster biotech as one of the nation's key industries, the local molecular diagnosis company Seegene is spearheading the initiative.
Last year, Seegene made its name known around the world by quickly developing its COVID-19 test kits following the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Although the virus was not yet spreading rapidly in Korea, the company presumed that it would in the near future as the number of virus victims was increasing greatly in China, so it rolled out its test kits just two weeks after it began developing them.
Seegene's test kits are still used widely around the world as the risks of COVID-19 variants are still weighing on the world. Thanks to the effectiveness of its products, the company posted 1.1252 trillion won ($957 million) in sales in 2020, surpassing the 1 trillion won sales milestone for the first time in its history.
To expand its presence further in the global medical diagnostics market, the company developed new COVID-19 diagnosis equipment. It is more affordable and smaller in size thus enabling more hospitals to acquire and make use of its molecular diagnosis equipment.
On Monday, Seegene announced at an annual event of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) that it has developed a fully automated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing system called AIOS.
The AACC, which held its Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in Atlanta, is an international scientific society focusing on clinical laboratory science and its applications to healthcare, featuring about 700 in vitro diagnostic companies from around the world.
During the expo, Seegene showcased its AIOS system, which provides high-throughput real-time PCR workflow, starting from nucleic acid extraction to interpretation of test results. The company said it is the industry's first fully automated syndromic real-time PCR testing system designed with a modular concept.
“Going forward, the key in fighting COVID-19 is to overcome the limitations of molecular diagnosis only being carried out in large hospitals manually by experts,” Seegene CEO Chun Jong-yoon said.
He said its AIOS could be an answer to that problem, as small local hospitals can also conduct PCR tests using the new equipment.
“A noteworthy feature of AIOS is that its PCR testing system is composed of independent and detachable modules together,” the company said. “Unlike other single-body systems, AIOS is designed with an extraction liquid handler and PCR instrument integrated with a robotic arm module developed in-house. Hospitals and laboratories can either purchase the full package of the AIOS system or integrate their existing instruments on site if they already have Seegene's liquid handler or real-time PCR instrument.”
Another feature of the AIOS is that it uses a syndromic-based inspection automation system, referring to a type of test that scans pathogens and detects the cause of a disease. Compared to other makers' diagnosis equipment, the company elaborated its AIOS is much more efficient in terms of time and cost.
The company added AIOS can be applied with various reagents to diagnose various respiratory diseases and human papillomavirus (HPV) expanding its range of efficacy.
“The product is smaller and lighter than existing equipment and does not require much space, so it can be introduced not only in large hospitals but also in small and medium-sized hospitals. So far, small and medium-sized hospitals have not fully recognized the need for molecular diagnosis, but the demand is expected to increase as its effectiveness has become widely known due to COVID-19,” the company official said.
Citing Korea's example, small and medium-sized hospitals, which account for most of the diagnosis market, have not been using molecular diagnosis. So the company said it expects the AIOS will bring it new opportunities to meet with more customers.
“AIOS represents Seegene's decades-long commitment to developing cutting-edge technologies in the molecular diagnostics field,” the Seegene CEO said. “I believe AIOS will contribute to public health by making MDx more accessible in everyday life.”
Thanks to its effective and agile response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Seegene was ranked 20th on the list of the 50 most innovative companies this year by the U.S.-based business magazine Fast Company. This is the first time a local molecular diagnosis company made it onto the list, alongside global leading biopharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Moderna.
Seegene CEO Chun said in a recent interview with a local newspaper that the company's receiving of this honor was made possible by its unflinching concentration on real-time PCR testing for over 20 years.
“While global firms have focused on developing medical equipment, we've focused on diagnostic reagents for a long time and that became our core competitiveness,” the CEO said.