South Korea’s National Institute of Health (NIH) announced Wednesday that it signed an agreement to transfer its technology in genotyping customized for Koreans with DNA Link Inc., and Theragen Etex Co. to commercialize chips mapping features of Korean-specific diseases.

The state-run health research center under the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC) developed DNA chips targeted for Koreans in 2015 through the Korea Biobank Array Project, to analyze genetic factors for chronic diseases especially prevalent in Korea including cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular and respiratory disease. It was the largest genotyping project using 35,000 cohort-based Korean samples.

The NIH said the genomic coverage of the Korea Biobank Array is over 95% in common variants and over 73% in less common variants. Furthermore, the Korea Biobank Array achieved over 99.5% accuracy and reproducibility, which is higher than previously designed chips.

DNA Link will help the government to achieve its goal to produce 150,000 Korean-specific chips by enhancing research in personalized treatment. It plans to analyze 147,000 samples collected by the NIH by the end of this year and step up efforts to recruit more patients for the study.

By Seo Jin-woo and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]