Chinese firm's desktop gene sequencer approved for China

Chinese genomics firm Genetron Health announced on Wednesday that its semiconductor high-throughput sequencer GENETRON S5 had been approved by Chinese regulators, becoming the first new-generation desktop semiconductor high-throughput sequencer for use in clinical applications in China.

The system is capable of rapid detection and flexible throughput, while it has a low initial sample capacity and wide application range. A supporting tumor gene detection kit for the system has also been successfully developed, which can be adapted to many types of samples from tissues to body fluids, including glioma, lung, urothelial, breast and thyroid cancers, covering the fields of early screening, molecular pathology diagnosis and medication guidance, the company said.

Up to now, the sequencing system has been used in several research centers' multicancer scientific research projects. Knowing the system would soon be approved for clinical use, the company held a warm-up promotional meeting and news conference in Beijing last month with related scientists sharing user experiences and speaking highly of the system.

Previously, Genetron Health (Chongqing) Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Genetron Health, had recently successfully passed certification for the ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 quality management systems.

China has a huge genetic testing market that continues to grow at a high speed. Chinese big data and analysis service provider Analysys expects that the genetic testing market in China will reach 65.95 billion yuan by 2022.

However, foreign companies dominate the high-throughput sequencer market globally, although Chinese companies, including Shenzhen MGI Tech Co Ltd, are making a greater presence in China.