February 28, 2022 - EDGC, a global genetic analysis company, has developed a technology that can detect the onset of 10 major cancers, including lung and colorectal cancer, at an early stage through blood tests, and will be launched in the United States. A technology that can detect so many types of cancer in stages 1 and 2 with just a small amount of blood tests has not yet been commercialized not only in Korea but also abroad. 

EDGC announced on February 6, 2022, that "it has applied for a US patent for a technology that screens cancer by detecting acquired mutations in DNA that are separated from cancer tumor cells of cell-free DNA floating in the blood."

EDGC will screen 10 major cancers, including lung cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer, at stages 1 and 2 for the general public who visited CLIA LAB that has obtained US laboratory standard certification. The service will be introduced in the first half of 2023. The service will be named ‘OncoCatch’

A company official said, "It is a method of screening cancer by comparing and analyzing the genetic pattern of DNA extracted from the blood of the patient with a database (DB) that summarizes the DNA types of cancer patients."

“The sensitivity was measured to be 93% in our own experiment,” he added.

Early cancer screening technology that analyzes acquired genetic mutations by type has not yet been commercialized. Global diagnosis companies such as EDGC and Illumina of the US are competing to develop this type of early cancer screen service.

The company plans to introduce a service that uses liquid biopsy technology to find anti-cancer drug treatments that fit the characteristics of each cancer patient. In addition, the company explained that this technology can provide information about the effect after prescription of anti-cancer drug treatments and whether the cancer has recurred after surgery to remove the tumor or not.

EDGC has been conducting preliminary work for the commercialization of liquid biopsy services. In September 2021, it signed a joint marketing contract with Molecular Health in Germany to strengthen its sales performance. In March 2021, the facility was built for clinical trials of liquid biopsy and was approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).

Min-Seob Lee, CEO of EDGC, said, “With the patent for original technology, we have prepared a foothold to dominate the early cancer screening market.”