South Korean biotech firms tap Middle East as next key market

South Korean biotech companies are speeding up their foray into the Middle East to tap oil money as they seek new growth engines beyond fossil fuels.

NGeneBio Co., a Korean precision diagnostic platform developer, said on Monday that it is showcasing its medical diagnostic devices at Medlab Middle East 2023, a global laboratory and diagnostics trade fair held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, for four days from Feb. 6. The global trade show is participated in by about 4,000 companies from around 140 countries this year.

The Korean startup, founded in 2015, will present its hematologic malignancy diagnostic kit HEMEaccuTest; solid tumor precision diagnostic device ONCOaccuPanel; next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based hereditary breast/ovarian cancer panel (BRCAaccuTest); and its NGS-based assay for tuberculosis MTBaccuPanel, according to the company.

This is the second year that NGeneBio has joined the largest laboratory and diagnostics exhibition in the Middle East as part of its efforts to expand its presence in the oil-rich region where interest in healthcare is growing rapidly.

The Korean company late last year bagged orders from Saudi Arabia’s National Unified Procurement Company (NUPCO), the country’s largest healthcare procurement, storage and distribution organization, to supply 4,000 hematologic malignancy diagnostic kits, probably by the first quarter of this year.

Global industry tracker Markets and Markets Research forecasts that the NGS market in the Middle East and Africa will grow to $545.4 million in 2025 from $347.8 million in 2021.

As Saudi Arabia is considered the gateway to other healthcare markets in the Middle East with growing interest in healthcare, other Korean biotech startups actively seek to enter the country. In January, Noul Co. also clinched a 2.4 billion won ($1.9 million) deal to supply its miLab onsite diagnostic platform that can test malaria without fluid.

Major Korean biopharmaceutical companies are also joining the latest Middle East rush led by biotech startups.

SK Bioscience Co. recently offered to build vaccine research & development (R&D) and production facilities in the region with investments from oil-rich countries, according to its Chief Executive Officer Ahn Jae-yong.

Korea Health Industry Development Institute also recently opened a booth at Arab Health 2023 in Dubai between Jan. 30 and Feb. 2 to introduce Korean medical devices, joined by Waycen Inc., Bionet Co. and Value and Trust Company (VNTC).

Write to Jeong-min Nam at peux@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.