Somagen Wins Genomic Analysis Project for Alzheimer's Disease

SomaGen announced on the 18th that it has signed a genome analysis supply contract worth $3.85 million per year (approximately 4.9 billion KRW) with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for Alzheimer's and dementia-related research.

The total contract amount for this single supply agreement is approximately $3.85 million (about 4.9 billion KRW), accounting for about 11.4% of the total sales in 2022. The contract period is until September 14 of next year.

Under this contract, SomaGen will participate as the whole genome sequencing (WGS) institution in genetic structure research related to Alzheimer's and dementia conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a branch of the NIH. This project is operated with federal funding from the NIH, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SomaGen will perform genome sequencing analysis on approximately 10,000 Alzheimer's patient samples annually.

A SomaGen representative stated, "As a multi-omics analysis specialist institution with about 19 years of extensive experience in the U.S., our continuous collaboration with the NIH has built mutual trust, which was the key to winning this contract." They added, "Because we have consistently maintained qualifications to participate in U.S. government national projects, such as maintaining CLIA and CAP certifications and obtaining ISO certification, we were able to participate once again in a large-scale national project."

Since 2014, SomaGen has steadily participated as a genome analysis specialist institution in the ‘TOPMed Core 1.0’ project led by U.S. national agencies and the ‘GP2’ project for Parkinson’s disease research. By participating again in this large-scale project involving about 10,000 Alzheimer's patients, SomaGen reaffirmed its strong cooperative relationship with U.S. national agencies as a genome analysis specialist institution in the U.S.

CEO Hong Soo said, "Cooperation with U.S. national agencies is always welcome," and added, "The Alzheimer's genome analysis project led by the NIH is a large-scale national project targeting genotype disease patients and control groups worldwide."