NuProbe and Weigao Group Form Strategic Collaboration to Develop Liquid Biopsy Panel

2020-06-22

HOUSTON, June 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --NuProbe and Weigao Group announced a strategic collaboration, wherein the two parties will apply NuProbe's proprietary Blocker Displacement Amplification (BDA) technology to developing a liquid biopsy NGS panel for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The product will be compatible with the desktop NGS instruments, and the companies plan to later apply for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) registration with NMPA, China's equivalent of FDA. Compared to traditional NGS methods, BDA-based liquid biopsy panels uniquely allow high sensitivity on affordable and accessible desktop NGS instruments. The two companies will promote NGS liquid biopsy products that are well suited to China's clinical needs, with the goal of improving Chinese cancer patient outcomes. "Our mission is to provide decentralized NGS liquid biopsy clinical solutions and offer real-time responses for the vast patient base in second- and third-tier hospitals in China with fewer resources," says Lin Chen, vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Weigao Group. "NuProbe has developed world-class, cutting-edge technologies and is currently the only company able to develop products on desktop NGS instruments with 0.1% VAF accuracy at a very low cost, and thus is our ideal partner. At the same time, NuProbe has extensive commercial experience in the China's clinical genetic testing market, and we foresee more in-depth cooperation in the future." "Weigao Group is a leading medical device and pharmaceutical company with rich channel resources in China. We are very pleased to work with Weigao Group to develop and market a new generation of liquid biopsy products based on the BDA technology," says Yingshuang Chai, CEO of NuProbe. "At present in China, NGS is not being widely adopted for tumor testing as the PCR technology in hospitals, creating a big gap between supply and demand. We believe that through the strong synergy between NuProbe and Weigao Group, we can provide clinicians and patients with unprecedented affordable liquid biopsy testing. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that 'Everyone Benefits from Precision Medicine'." About BDA technology BDA removes wildtype DNA derived from healthy cells, allowing reliable detection of low frequency tumor-specific mutations using low-depth NGS. BDA has been validated in clinical laboratories in both China and the United States, and forms the basis for a number of NuProbe's products on platforms including qPCR, Sanger sequencing, and nanopore sequencing. Facilitating liquid biopsy testing on desktop NGS instruments will substantially reduce the adoption barrier of liquid biopsy oncology testing in China. About Weigao Group Founded in 1988, Weigao Group's core expertise is in developing medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Weigao has a facility footprint of over 6 million square meters, employs over 30,000 individuals, and has over 80 subsidiaries. Weigao's product line includes over 1000 equipment and consumable products, and is recognized as a safe, reliable, and trustworthy global manufacturer of medical systems and solutions. Weigao had a revenue of $1.6 billion in 2019. About NuProbe Global NuProbe is a cutting-edge precision molecular diagnostics company with revolutionary molecular diagnostic technologies to reduce the cost of NGS by over 50-fold, and improve the sensitivity of qPCR, Sanger, and nanopore sequencing by over 100-fold. NuProbe has sites in Houston, USA, Shanghai, China and Suzhou, China. NuProbe's vision is to offer affordable, timely, and accurate disease state information to enable precision medicine and improve patient outcomes.

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