NGeneBio applies for US patent of early diagnosis tech of dementia

South Korean medical diagnostic company NGeneBio Co. announced on Thursday that it has completed the US patent application for its technology related to the diagnosis and monitoring of degenerative brain diseases based on body fluid-based tests.

The technology applied for the patent this time allows for the diagnosis of dementia patients using blood samples without the need for cerebrospinal fluid collection, which is different from conventional diagnostic methods.

It detects microRNA (miRNA) that abnormally increases in dementia patients. Once the target biomarker is detected, it utilizes a fluorescent probe that emits light.

NGeneBio explained that it applied for this patent to seize a position in the US Alzheimer's market, which is valued at $1.5 billion. By combining the biomarkers for Parkinson's dementia and Lewy body dementia, for which patent applications have already been completed, NGeneBio plans to develop products that can classify and provide early diagnosis of various causes of dementia using artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms.

The company plans to commercialize dementia early diagnosis tests in the US market through Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs) services provided by a US Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) lab that it is in the process of acquiring. These tests will be offered alongside next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based precision cancer diagnostic tests.

"We plan to continuously commercialize key technologies, including early diagnosis of dementia, as well as NGS precision diagnostics, companion diagnostics, and liquid biopsy-based prognosis diagnostics, as these are representative diseases in an aging society," CEO of NGeneBio Choi Dae-Chul said. 

"Through the acquisition of the US CLIA lab that we are pursuing and our US subsidiary EngeneBio NGeneBioAI, we plan to actively target the rapidly growing data-based AI diagnostics market in the US."

Write to Yena Kim at yena@hankyung.com