Seegene establishes Brazilian subsidiary

Seegene Inc., a leading developer of multiplex PCR technologies based in South Korea, on 18 June 2019, has announced the formation of a new subsidiary, Seegene Brasil Diagnósticos Ltda., In Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Seegene do Brasil Diagnósticos Ltda. plans to gain broad market share by hiring members of an already consolidated Brazilian team to its new management team. Leveraging its expertise, Seegene will directly manage its existing customer base, rapidly expanding this coverage to new customers.

The Brazilian IVD market is increasing rapidly with the largest share in Latin America, with about US $2 billion. Due to the great obstacles to the entry of new products in the country, such as complicated approval processes, complex customs releases and high tax rates, Seegene decided to develop and commercialize its products in Brazil through Seegene do Brasil Diagnósticos Ltda.

Seegene has already obtained approval from the National Agency for Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA) for instruments and reagents for nucleic acid extraction, as well as for 20 of its main Allplex™ products, including kits for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), infections respiratory, gastrointestinal, and human papillomavirus (HPV) viruses, among others. Seegene has just received an international certification of its Single Medical Device Audit Program (MDSAP), which further facilitates the implementation of its business in Brazil.

Using Seegene's own multiplex technology, which simultaneously enables the multiple detection and identification of various types of pathogens in a single test, Seegene do Brasil Diagnósticos Ltda. has as one of the objectives the development of new products for diagnostics, customized for the country's reality, such as the kit for tropical viruses such as Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya.

A Seegene spokesman said: "We plan to use the Brazilian subsidiary as a bridge to expand our presence in Latin American markets through R&D and local production as well as sales. We believe we can lead the market with our multiplex products of high capacity and adopting Seegene unique polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technologies. Brazil is a major player in the Latin American market. The country will have a crucial role to play in this market by guaranteeing our participation in large laboratory centres in Brazil."

Seegene is expanding its presence in the global molecular diagnostics market operating through six subsidiaries: the United States, the Middle East, Canada, Italy, Germany, and now Brazil.