Cambridge, United Kingdom – 17 September, 2018 – Congenica, the global diagnostic decision support platform provider, today announced it has entered into an agreement with a new strategic partner Digital China Health Technologies Cooperation Limited (DCHealth), further extending Congenica’s commitment to the Chinese market.
The new partnership will see Congenica develop a version of its Sapientia™ platform designed to enable clinicians and patients in China to benefit from the clinical genomics and personalised medicine revolution. DCHealth will use its significant commercial depth and experience in the Chinese hospital market to accelerate the commercialization of this locally-adapted version of Sapientia™.
A leading player in the fast-emerging genomics medicines space, Congenica’s Sapientia platform and expert support services allows clinicians to interrogate the human genome to identify disease-causing variants. Congenica aims to revolutionise personalised patient care through accurate diagnoses, curation of evolving knowledge bases, and support in clinical trials and drug development. With the ability to interrogate all disease-causing variants, it has particular capability to support identification of those for Rare Diseases.
This important partnership with DCHealth increases the Company’s alliances and relationships in China, a market that offers considerable commercial potential in genomic medicine. DCHealth brings its scientific and commercial expertise to accelerate Congenica’s expansion in the China market. DCHealth is well-known as a leading company in medical big data and precision medicine, which has established a nation-wide cancer data network connecting 30 specialized cancer hospitals and 174 municipal cancer hospitals across China. It participated in various national projects including building the National Rare Disease Registry System of China. DCHealth has also years of experience working with hospitals in China to build IT systems that enhance patient care.
Dr David Atkins, CEO of Congenica, said: “China is an important market for Congenica and this new relationship with DCHealth gives us greater insight into what the local market requires to accelerate the broader use of genomic medicine. This comprehensive commercial partnership will give us extensive market insight and access. “We also recognise the need to automate Sapientia to support wider usage and to help reduce costs to healthcare providers, helping more clinicians provide accurate, rapid and cost-effective diagnoses to patients and their families.”
Mr David Shi, CEO of DCHealth, commented: “As the provision of routine clinical genomics services continues to increase in China and other global markets, the analysis and interpretation of genomic data will be one of the most challenging aspects of transforming these data into meaningful, clinically-actionable results. Our business partnership reflects Congenica’s proven abilities and track record, and underlines our confidence that its clinical genomic diagnostics platform and services will support clinicians with definitive diagnoses and facilitate the delivery of consistently high quality of care.”
Dr Andy Richards, Chairman of Congenica, said: “Congenica is at the exciting scale up stage of its commercial development. As a top-tier Cambridge-based life sciences company at the forefront of the fast-moving genomics market, Congenica has demonstrated how, with the right investment and leadership, the UK can build world-leading technology companies originating from world-leading UK science. Having made tremendous progress over the past 18 months, and with this additional commercial partnership in China, it is poised to become the leading clinical genomics services provider, benefiting patients worldwide .”
Combining its heritage from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute with real-world commercial and clinical experience through work with Genomics England’s 100K Genomes Project, in addition to NHS Genomic Medicine Centres and NHS Trusts across the UK, Sapientia helps clinicians quickly identify the genetic variants that cause disease to support clinical decision-making. It has also played a role in a number of other significant national-scale genomics projects including China’s 100K Wellness Project.
The partnership was signed during Congenica’s second trade mission to China this year#.
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#Signing ceremony and World Economic Forum event Congenica is in China as part of the UK Government’s trade delegation to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions led by Rt Hon Matt Hancock, MP UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Taking place 18-20 September in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, the Forum focuses on the impact of science and technology on shaping economies, societies and geopolitical structures, with this year’s event marking the first meeting of the Forum’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Councils, including one on Precision Medicine.
