Teragen Bio Collaborates with KAD to Establish Wastewater-Based Infectious Disease Surveillance System

Published 25 Apr.2023 09:44(KST)

Teragen Bio, a global genome analysis service and AI-based new drug development company, announced on the 25th that it has signed an MOU with KAD, an infection prevention platform company, to establish a sewage-based surveillance system for early detection of infectious diseases.

[Photo by Teragen Bio]

Through this partnership, the two companies will collaborate on all activities related to building a domestic sewage-based surveillance system. KAD will proactively detect the spread of infectious diseases within communities without infringing on individual privacy through the sewage-based surveillance system, while Teragen Bio will analyze infectious diseases and variants using next-generation sequencing (NGS) of DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) extracted from sewage samples.

The sewage-based surveillance system, which collects and analyzes samples from wastewater treatment plants, is gaining attention as a new scientific analytical method that reduces the social effort and costs associated with clinical-based infectious disease surveys and complements sample surveillance centered on medical institutions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized it as a new infectious disease surveillance technology, and it is already being implemented in countries such as the United States.

Starting this month, the Korean government is conducting a “sewage-based infectious disease surveillance” project that analyzes the amount of virus mixed in domestic sewage at 64 wastewater treatment plants across 17 cities and provinces nationwide to estimate patient occurrences within local communities. The domestic sewage surveillance system is also included in the government’s 110 national tasks under the agenda of “advancing infectious disease response systems and modernizing quarantine response systems.”

Sewage Infection Prevention System Diagram [Photo by Teragen Bio]

Hwang Tae-soon, CEO of Teragen Bio, said, “We are pleased to participate in the sewage-based infectious disease system construction project to lead the healthcare paradigm of prediction and prevention,” adding, “Through Teragen Bio’s advanced NGS capabilities, we will contribute to national efforts for proactive infectious disease prevention.” Kim Sung-pyo, CEO of KAD, also stated, “With this MOU, we have established a foundation to collect and analyze information necessary for infectious disease prevention and response more quickly and accurately through the sewage-based infectious disease surveillance system,” and added, “Together with Teragen Bio, we will do our best to create a safe and healthy society from the increasing threats of infectious diseases.”