Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

In Brief This Week: Prenetics, Oncgnostics, MGI Tech, Pacific Biosciences, BioSkryb Genomics, More

NEW YORK – Prenetics said this week that its revenues were $5.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, up 36 percent year over year from $4.2 million in Q2 of 2022. The Hong Kong-based genomic testing company posted a net loss of $20.4 million, or $.14 per share, compared to a net loss of $148.4 million, or $2.91 per share, a year ago. As of June 30, the firm had $177.2 million in cash and cash equivalents. Also in June, Prenetics signed a $200 million deal with Dennis Lo, a researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, to form a joint venture, Insighta, that will develop multi-cancer screening tests.


German molecular diagnostics firm Oncgnostics said last week that it has received a multi-million-dollar investment from Hong Kong-based Grande Bio-tech to make Oncgnostics' cervical cancer diagnostic test, GynTect, available in Southeast Asia. Oncgnostics, based in Jena, has been distributing the test in China since 2022 through a partnership with Shanghai-based GeneoDx and received approval for the test, sold in China under the name GongAnLi, from the National Medical Products Administration that same year. The tests detects cancer-related DNA methylation changes from cervical swabs. 


MGI Tech this week said it is supporting plant genomics sequencing for the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP). An affiliated project of the Earth BioGenome Project, AfricaBP was launched in 2021 to sequence the genomes of 105,000 endemic species in Africa including plants, animals, fungi, protists, and other eukaryotes. A spokesperson from MGI said the company is providing DNBSeq-G400 sequencers and single-tube long fragment read (stLFR) technology for this project.  


Pacific Biosciences said this week that it has launched PacBio Capital, a program that will offer customers the ability to lease PacBio sequencing systems, including a six-month same as cash financing option. PacBio has partnered with Minnesota-based Mitsubishi HC Capital, a vendor finance company, to manage the program in the US. Additional financing offerings are available globally through other partners, including Evosciences, the firm said. 


BioSkryb Genomics said this week that it has joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Genome Editing Consortium to help develop standards and measurements for the use of genome editing technologies. Specifically, BioSkryb will use its ResolveDNA and ResolveOme products to characterize genome editing on a single-cell basis to help define genome editing and reporting standards, generate benchmark data, and improve the understanding of on-target and off-target effects. 


Danaher said this week that its board of directors has approved a regular quarterly cash dividend of $.27 per share of its common stock, payable on Oct. 27 to shareholders of record on Oct. 12. 


Congenica said this week that it has formed a partnership with myTomorrows, an online platform for matching patients to clinical trials, to present cancer trial and pre-approval treatment options to clinicians through Congenica's precision oncology portal. The companies expect the service to go live in the first quarter of 2024.   


In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on GenomeWeb.