Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority and Macrogen Join Forces to Foster Customized Healthcare Business

'Consumer Direct Request' Genetic Analysis Demonstration Exception Also Promoted

Lee Won-jae, Head of Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (center), Lee Soo-kang, CEO of Macrogen (right), and Seo Jeong-seon, Chairman of Jin Health Health Screening Center, are signing the "Genomic Analysis-Based Healthcare Industry Promotion Business Agreement" on the 28th.
[Photo by Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority has joined hands with Macrogen, the world's 5th largest company in the field of genome analysis, to foster the customized healthcare business.

On the 23rd, at the opening ceremony of Jin Health Medical Checkup Center in Songdo International City, Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority Commissioner Lee Won-jae, Macrogen CEO Lee Soo-kang, and Medical Checkup Center Chairman Seo Jeong-seon attended and signed a "Business Agreement for Fostering Healthcare Industry Based on Genome Analysis," the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority announced on the 28th.

According to the agreement, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority will support project planning and necessary resources for fostering the bio healthcare industry, while Macrogen and Jin Health Medical Checkup Center will actively promote collaborative projects utilizing genome analysis and precision medicine know-how, as well as the resources of the medical checkup center.

Specifically, Macrogen will promote the consumer direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing service demonstration exemption project, networking among industry, academia, and research institutes in related fields within Songdo, and customized healthcare education projects.

The cooperation between Macrogen and the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority began with the demonstration exemption project for DTC genetic testing services last year. In February of last year, Macrogen was selected as the first regulatory sandbox project operator for the DTC genetic testing service business by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Macrogen plans to conduct a two-year demonstration exemption project providing customized health promotion services through DTC genome analysis targeting 2,000 adult residents in Songdo.

Once the review by the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Public Institutional Bioethics Committee (IRB) is completed, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority and Macrogen will proceed with the DTC genetic testing demonstration exemption project in Songdo.

Macrogen, Korea's first KOSDAQ-listed bio venture and a global precision medicine biotechnology company, has over 18,000 research institutions as clients in 153 countries. With about 600 employees and global sales of 122 billion KRW, it ranks as the world's 5th largest company in genome analysis.

In 2016, Macrogen published a paper on the Korean genome map in Nature Genetics, receiving high praise as the "world's best existing human genome map."

Meanwhile, the newly opened Jin Health Medical Checkup Center plans to provide healthcare services combining genetic analysis and customized medical checkups, and will collaborate with Macrogen's research team on research and development, analysis, and business development related to genetic analysis.

Lee Won-jae, Commissioner of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority, emphasized, "We will do our best to build infrastructure and foster industry-academia-research networking so that Songdo International City becomes a city for companies pioneering advanced bio and healthcare markets like Macrogen."

Lee Soo-kang, CEO of Macrogen, stated, "Through this cooperation, we will provide more specialized personalized healthcare services based on Macrogen's accumulated genome analysis experience and know-how."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.