"We Aim to Lead the Asian Liquid Biopsy Market with World-Class Proprietary Technology"

Interview with Kim Taeyu, CEO of IMBDx
A Global Healthcare Company Dedicated to Conquering Cancer
Establishing a Foundation for Overseas Expansion Through Joint Sales with Local Partners

Recently, newly listed companies in the domestic stock market that possess world-class proprietary technologies, such as NextBioMedical and TomoCube, have been attracting attention. Although their current sales volumes are still small, expectations that their technological capabilities will allow them to dominate the global market are driving up their corporate value. IMBDx, which owns proprietary liquid biopsy technology, is moving beyond Korea to secure a foothold in Asian markets such as Japan and Taiwan.

After being listed on the KOSDAQ market in April last year, the company quickly succeeded in advancing its technology and unveiled its "next-generation liquid biopsy" solution. Kim Taeyu, CEO of IMBDx, stated, "In terms of technological capability alone, we are on par with Guardant Health, which leads the global liquid biopsy market," adding, "We are strengthening partnerships in countries where we can enter quickly, such as Japan, India, and Thailand."

IMBDx is a global healthcare company taking on the challenge of conquering cancer. It is the only company in Korea that possesses a platform capable of diagnosing the entire cancer cycle based on liquid biopsy technology. Liquid biopsy is a method of diagnosing cancer by detecting circulating tumor DNA and tumor components using cell-free DNA floating in body fluids such as blood, urine, pleural fluid, and cerebrospinal fluid, which originate from cancer tissues.

The company's flagship product, CancerDx200, is a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based panel test that analyzes blood to identify a total of 192 gene mutations. It enhances clinical utility by enabling the selection of personalized treatments and predicting responses to anticancer drugs for patients with advanced cancer. Guardant360 CDx, a product by Guardant Health in the United States, identifies 74 gene mutations.

CEO Kim explained, "There have been cases where patients who did not respond to existing treatments were able to redefine their treatment strategies and show improvement through genome profiling based on liquid biopsy," adding, "With CancerDx200, it is possible to select treatments that can have a direct effect on the patient."

He continued, "We have enhanced the functions for biomarker testing to predict responses to immunotherapy drugs and for gene testing related to drug resistance," emphasizing, "Medical professionals will be able to establish highly precise, optimized treatment strategies for each individual patient."

Genetic mutation testing for cancer patients helps prevent unnecessary medication, thereby improving treatment efficiency. Early detection of cancer is also an essential step toward conquering the disease. In the case of early-stage cancer with no symptoms, the tumor is so small that it is difficult to detect through imaging or endoscopy.

IMBDx has developed "CancerFind," a screening product for early detection of multiple cancers. CancerFind analyzes the characteristics of circulating tumor DNA, which accounts for less than 0.001% of blood, to determine the organ of origin. With just a 10 mL blood sample, it can detect the presence of eight major cancers: colorectal, gastric, liver, pancreatic, lung, breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer. The test recorded a specificity of 97.3% and a sensitivity of 89.6%. According to the company's own clinical results, the sensitivity for detecting the presence of cancer was 86%, and the accuracy for predicting the location of the cancer was 83%. Its performance is comparable to the Gallery test by GRAIL, a U.S. competitor. IMBDx has also secured a price competitiveness that is approximately 30-40% lower than U.S. products.

CEO Kim stated, "We plan to expand the number of detectable cancer types to 30 by 2029," adding, "We are also strengthening training for specialized personnel to increase the number of hospitals adopting our products."

IMBDx is now actively pursuing overseas market expansion. CEO Kim emphasized, "We are accumulating real-world usage cases based on technology and clinical implementation experience that are equal to or superior to those of leading global companies," and "We are working to establish a foundation for global expansion and strengthen price competitiveness through a joint sales model with local partners, aiming to position ourselves as the 'global number one liquid biopsy company.'"

He continued, "We have moved beyond the pilot stage and are now accumulating clinical real-world references," adding, "We are leading the Asian medical market by meeting the balance of cost, accessibility, and speed." He also said, "Based on clinical experience with populations similar to Korea, the spread of multi-ethnic clinical trials is accelerating," and expressed expectations that "results will be achieved in regions such as Japan and India."

IMBDx recently formed a partnership with MedPeer Group, a Japanese medical platform company. MedPeer Group, which has 170,000 physician members, selected IMBDx as its partner to compete directly with Guardant Health, which currently holds the top market share in Japan's liquid biopsy market. The company expects to prove its technological prowess by competing with global liquid biopsy companies valued at several trillion to tens of trillions of won not only in Taiwan and Japan but across all of Asia.