According to a recent press release, a precision cancer treatment solution provider opened its Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) laboratory in Hong Kong on 4 July 2019.
This is part of its strategic plan to meet the growing demand for cancer genomic profiling services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The new laboratory is located at the Hong Kong Science Park. Measuring about 7,000 square feet, the laboratory is supported by a workforce responsible for sales, medical science and research and laboratory work, and is equipped with dual sequencing platforms (Ion GeneStudio S5 System and NextSeq 550 System) that boast both speed (quick turnover time for clinical reports) and throughput (high specimen volume or high sequencing depth for research purposes).
The lab has been designed and built to serve the clinical, pharmaceutical and research communities in the city and Asia, and also aspires to capture the tremendous opportunities in the Greater Bay Area in future.
Founded in Taiwan in 2014, cancer treatment solution company provides cancer patients with personalised genomic information based-treatment plans through its cutting-edge NGS platform, medical reports and integrated services. The platform is capable of detecting multiple genomic alterations using a single tissue sample within a single test run.
When used together with sophisticated bioinformatics analysis tools, curated proprietary medical informatic databases and data visualisation technologies, it can match identified mutations with not only approved therapies but also targeted therapies in clinical trials, thereby facilitating “precision medicine” treatment.
At the ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of the company stated that with over 31,000 new cancer cases in Hong Kong every year, it is crucial for cancer treatment solutions to stay on the cutting edge, which is the mission of ACT Genomics.
The firm’s head stated that the company aim to transform the existing cancer treatment model and make cancer more manageable. Its NGS platform provides physicians with an essential reference for prescribing the most appropriate and effective treatment to a patient.
The company intends to draw from successful experiences in Taiwan and replicate it in Hong Kong with the help of this new world-class NGS laboratory.
The Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion stated that biotechnology is one of several innovation areas that is growing rapidly in Hong Kong. The Greater Bay Area is a huge market with a population of 71 million people. As the city is being positioned as the global innovation and technology hub within the Greater Bay Area and with our established business and legal systems, Hong Kong offers a convenient platform for international biotech and other laboratories to manage their operations across the Greater Bay Area.
The firm has been an innovation-driven cancer solution provider in Asia with offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan.
It’s NGS technology and experienced bioinformatics team, it provides optimal cancer treatment planning, cancer relapse and drug resistance monitoring, cancer risk assessment and immunotherapy evaluation to medical professionals.
The firm’s team consists of medical professionals who specialise in biomarker identification, underlying disease mechanism discovery and genetic alteration exploration.
Pharmaceutical communities also benefit from its expertise in identifying targets for drug development, stratifying patients for clinical studies and delineating drug responses.
Hence, the presence of such a lab in Hong Kong is a boon on many fronts.
