Seegene Unveils Combination Test at ECCMID 2018

Seegene Inc. (Seoul, South Korea), a developer of multiplex PCR technologies, introduced a combination test at the 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2018) held in Madrid, Spain, from April 21 to 24, 2018. The combination test is a high-efficiency solution that diagnoses various causes of diseases with multiplex molecular diagnosis assays. Seegene also showcased its molecular diagnostic system SGSTAR (Seegene Sameday Test and Report), which allows order-to-report on the same day and enables the running of the combination test.

Seegene develops multiplex molecular technologies and multiplex clinical molecular diagnostics (M-MoDx). Its core enabling technologies are the foundation for M-MoDx tests which can simultaneously detect multiple targets with high sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility. The combination test introduced by Seegene at the ECCMID 2018 can detect pathogens for syndromic infectious diseases by simultaneously performing all possible tests for pathogens sharing similar symptoms from the same type of specimen. For instance, in a patient with respiratory symptoms, the combination test can reveal the cause of the disease by simultaneously diagnosing whether the relevant symptoms are caused by tubercule bacillus or pneumococcus. The combination test is available for tuberculosis and pneumonia, as well as for HPV and sexually transmitted infections and full panel tests for gastrointestinal infections.

The company’s molecular diagnostic system SGSTAR, which was also showcased at the ECCMID 2018, is an innovative MDx solution that provides order-to-report on the same day by simultaneously performing high multiplex real-time PCR testing on a single platform, irrespective of the specimen and assay type. With this system solution, the combination test can be concurrently implemented, and the test results can be provided on the very day of the patient's visit to the hospital.

"In order to achieve on-time customized patient care and to foster a comprehensive delivery medical care to patients, a more objective and accurate testing method based on symptoms and samples is necessary. We believe that Seegene's combination test will be a breakthrough in achieving this," said Dr. Jong-Yoon Chun, founder and CEO of Seegene. "If the combination test is broadly applied, the exact cause of infectious diseases can be identified and treated. This not only contributes to the improvement in patient care, but also medical institutions and reimbursement system can save time and costs, which could create new value-added to the molecular diagnostic industry."