MACROGEN Launches Famplan Genetic Carrier Testing, And ABOOBA Genetic Test For Newborns

- Offers a total care solution before and after birth for managing harmful hereditary diseases

- Presents famplan™, the world’s most extensive carrier test

- Presents ABOOBA™, a genetic test for newborns with the ability to identify even the newest hereditary diseases

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Macrogen (CEO Hyon-yong Chong, www.macrogen.com) (KOSDAQ:038290), a biotechnology company in the area of precision medicine, announced its official worldwide launch of famplan™, a genetic carrier test, and ABOOBA™, a genetic test for newborns, in celebration of May 15, the International Day of Families.

“We will continue to do our best to give a trustworthy service to parents who want a healthy child so that they can plan for a happy and healthy family, and manage their family’s health systematically.”

famplan™ is an abbreviation for “family plan,” and it serves to identify potential hereditary diseases in newborns by analyzing their parents’ genetic makeup and identifying genetic disease carriers. As the world’s most extensive carrier test, famplan™ looks for more than 2,000 hereditary disease-related risks and aids in the prevention of congenital hereditary problems, helping mothers to give birth to healthy children. In particular, it is appropriate for future parents who might be worried about the cost, as it is in the most affordable price range among the established tests.

ABOOBA™ is an abbreviation for “about the baby.” It is a service that analyzes a newborn’s genetic makeup in order to check for congenital hereditary diseases. Because the ABOOBA™ test uses the newest available genetic analysis technology, it can offer a risk analysis of all the newborn-related hereditary diseases known today. Fifty percent of hereditary diseases are found within a year of a child’s birth, but if found early with ABOOBA™, diseases can be prevented with appropriate intensive care, the time of onset can be delayed, and even after occurrence, symptoms can be alleviated. Also, the customer can continually receive updated information if a new hereditary disease is found even after running just a single test.

Customers all over the world can request famplan™ and ABOOBA™ tests and their results through hospitals, and the results are out within two to three weeks from the day of reception. In particular, famplan™ offers a convenient online service at its official websites, famplan.macrogen.com and clinic.macrogen.com.

Macrogen can now offer a total care solution in managing hereditary diseases and their risks from before conception to right after birth with its launch last November of faest™—an advanced test to analyze genetic makeup before childbirth—and current launch of famplan™ and ABOOBA™. Future parents who are expecting a child can start family planning by first identifying the child’s hereditary disease risks with famplan™, and at an early stage of pregnancy the child’s chromosomes can be checked for abnormality through faest™. Furthermore, ABOOBA™ can be used after birth to identify the newborn’s risk of getting a hereditary disease, thus offering customers a comprehensive and systematic testing service. In particular, customers can use Macrogen’s package service for testing, thus minimizing the financial burden while still taking advantage of a more systematic and planned testing service.

CEO Hyon-yong Chong said, “Macrogen was able to offer a total care solution before childbirth through continuous research and development in this area after the launch of faest™ as well as the accumulated know-how after operating a genetic makeup analysis service for the past 20 years.” He added, “We will continue to do our best to give a trustworthy service to parents who want a healthy child so that they can plan for a happy and healthy family, and manage their family’s health systematically.”

Since last year, Macrogen has been expanding its clinical and general customers with the successive launches of the advanced genetic makeup testing service faest™, the genetic test for pets MyPETGENE™ and the genetic identification service iD4U™ in the global market. Macrogen plans to continue to offer diversified services to the general public so that they can use information on genetic makeup in everyday life.