Abnova & Yourgene Collaborate to Accelerate Next Generation Sequencing Capability and Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cell and Circulating Fetal Cell in Taiwan

Neihu, Taiwan (June 26, 2018)

Abnova and Yourgene announced today to collaborate and accelerate next generation sequencing (NGS) capability for single cell analysis in Taiwan. Abnova has successfully developed a large portfolio of cell-based liquid biopsy technologies for enrichment and isolation of circulating tumor cell (CTC) and circulating fetal cell (CFC) technologies in recent years. Yourgene is one of the recognized world leaders of NGS analysis for both academic research and non-invasive prenatal testing/screening (NIPT, NIPS) and was successfully acquired by Premaitha Health, a public listed company in United Kingdom, last year. Both Abnova and Yourgene will work together to build the single cell NGS infrastructure for point mutation, insertion and deletion (INDEL), gene fusion, copy number variation (CNV), and chromosomal aneuploidies for the analysis of CTCs and CFCs. Both companies aim to efficiently integrate each other’s upstream and downstream capabilities to speed up single cell’s laboratory-developed test (LDT) and in vitro diagnostics (IVD) application and commercialization for the cancer and prenatal markets.

“Single cell analysis has gained increased importance in precision medicine, particularly for cancer and prenatal markets,” said Dr. Wilber Huang, President of Abnova Corporation. “On the cancer front, this is evidenced by tumor’s single cell heterogeneity which propels the physicians and patients to identify more tumor mutations, tumor burden, and RNA signature to improve drug guidance, particularly in the new era of immunotherapy. On the prenatal front, the renewed enthusiasm for fetal cell for prenatal diagnosis is propelled by the need to accurately identify microdeletions and non-X-linked monogenic diseases in the fetus. We look forward to working closely with Yourgene as our downstream NGS expert in this collaboration.”

“We are excited to be working with Abnova which has developed end-to-end solutions for the upstream CTC and CFC enrichment, identification, and isolation,” said Dr. Bill Chang, President of Yourgene. “In the biotech community, collaboration is essential to spearhead the products into the market which rewards the first movers. Many companies have great technologies and innovations but the final commercialization is often hampered by critical factors which can be solved more quickly by open integration and collaboration. Moreover, we are also seeing the focus of NGS shifting from the academic research to clinical applications. This is an area of strength for Yourgene.”