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Genetic testing has grown to be a business big enough in China to warrant the government’s intervention. Early in February, the government quietly put the brakes on the provision of genetic tests to customers by domestic hospitals and a variety of medical and health institutions.
If the ban persists it could blunt the ambitions of Shenzhen-based BGI, which has the world’s largest gene-sequencing capacity, and its various competitors, including Beijing-based Berry Genomics, Hunan-based Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, and Shenzhen-listed DAAN Gene. (For more on BGI’s history and businesses, see this Forbes Asia magazine story). BGI itself is in the process of preparing for an IPO to list part of its business.
BGI declined to comment on how the ban would affect its business. It is understood the company is in the process of seeking government approval for the commercial use of its products, including its proprietary sequencing software and the Complete Genomics-branded equipment made by the American company it acquired a year ago. An approval would allow it to sell its noninvasive DNA test, invented in...
If the ban persists it could blunt the ambitions of Shenzhen-based BGI, which has the world’s largest gene-sequencing capacity, and its various competitors, including Beijing-based Berry Genomics, Hunan-based Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, and Shenzhen-listed DAAN Gene. (For more on BGI’s history and businesses, see this Forbes Asia magazine story). BGI itself is in the process of preparing for an IPO to list part of its business.
BGI declined to comment on how the ban would affect its business. It is understood the company is in the process of seeking government approval for the commercial use of its products, including its proprietary sequencing software and the Complete Genomics-branded equipment made by the American company it acquired a year ago. An approval would allow it to sell its noninvasive DNA test, invented in...