NEW YORK — New Horizon Health and Prenetics said on Monday that they are partnering to launch their ColoClear noninvasive colorectal cancer test in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
ColoClear, which was developed by New Horizon and was recently cleared by China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), is a stool-based DNA test specifically designed to detect colon cancer in individuals of Asian descent.
In late 2019, the companies signed an agreement to jointly commercialize ColoClear in Hong Kong and certain other markets. Under the terms of the deal, Hangzhou, China-based New Horizon transferred the test's underlying technology to Prenetics, which is responsible for processing the test. At the time, the companies said that the test would launch in Hong Kong in early 2020 and in Southeast Asia later that year.
The companies said on Monday that ColoClear will now launch in Hong Kong next month, followed by Macau and Taiwan. The partnership includes an option to expand into Southeast Asia.
"As the only NMPA-approved cancer screening test to date, ColoClear has enjoyed triple-digit growth in 2021, the first year of its commercial launch in China," New Horizon CEO YeQing Zhu said in a statement. "We are confident in its ability to identify colorectal cancer and precancerous lesion at early stage when it is still curable, and we look forward to working with Prenetics to benefit the broader Asian community."
Last week, Hong Kong-based Prenetics went public on the Nasdaq after merging with special purpose acquisition company Artisan Acquisition. New Horizon floated its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier that year.