The Korean genetic sequencing firm Eone Diagnomics Genome Center (EDGC) has launched an official brand for its advanced early cancer detection technology, paving the way for exports of the service to enter markets in and outside the country.

The company based in Incheon's Songdo held a webinar on May 23 to launch ONCOCATCH, a liquid biopsy-based technology. The brand's name comes from oncology.

EDGC Co-CEO Lee Min-seob said during the online seminar that ONCOCATCH can parse one's genetic data to scan the person's unique health blueprint and detect signs of cancer without performing a biopsy, which has been the traditional method.

Lee started off the seminar with a presentation about "precision medical cancer treatment through genetic revolution." Chief Technology Officer Lee Sung-hoon, Chief Medical Officer Kim Geong-cheol, and healthcare business team leader Cho Sung-min also delivered lectures.

The in-vitro cancer-diagnostic service ONCOCATCH comes with ONCOCATCH-S for lung cancer screening, ONCOCATCH-E for colon, breast and stomach cancer, ONCOCATCH-CDx for all types of solid cancer, and ONCOCATCH-M for monitoring relapsed cancers and the effects of anti-cancer treatments.

The technology was approved by the country's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in March for good manufacturing practice (GMP) of its clinical trials.

With the technology, EDGC has been working on completing the predictive diagnosis of cancer by detecting signs of a circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) ― a precursor to developing cancer. If there is any ctDNA, it exists in an extremely small amount among circulating free DNA (cfDNA) in blood.

EDGC says its super-precision medical technology in ONCOCATCH can benefit people by enabling them to preemptively discover whether they will have cancer, find out if a cancer they had treated will relapse, and see the effectiveness of anti-cancer treatments for them.

The company aims to introduce the early cancer detection health service to Korea as early as late 2022 following the ministry's approval for commercialization. The service is already in use at Hong Kong's Union Medical Healthcare and Pb Medicom-In in Dnipro, Ukraine.