The Middle East and Southeast Asia are high-prevalence areas for thalassemia and sickle cell anemia as well as significant regions along Belt and Road Routes. In November and December 2022, President Xi Jinping visited Riyadh and Bangkok, Thailand respectively, made plans for constructing the China-Arab Community of Shared Destiny and the China-Thailand Community of Shared Destiny; and he drew blueprints for China-Arab and China-Thailand future developments. At the present stage, China, The Middle East and Southeast Asia are in a golden period of development.
BGI Group responds to national strategy by making long-term operations in The Middle East and Southeast Asia. It has built a wholly-owned subsidiary-BGI Almanahil in The Middle East and a joint venture, Bangkok Genomics Innovation Public Company, in Thailand. It carried out medical service, national genome, and so on. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, BGI took an active part in local frontline epidemic prevention and control, such as building Huo-Yan laboratory. BGI has established a good relationship with local governments and business.
Hemogen, a subsidiary of BGI Group, is devoted to treating hemoglobin disorders and achieving the grand goal of "No Thalassemia in the World." Its primary structure product, HGI-001 injection (aiming at transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia), has already helped five transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia patients get rid of long-term blood transfusion. HGI-001 injection was made by an automated and fully enclosed system, which features high safety, good stability and reliable efficacy. It can be conveniently transferred and implemented by a third party for production.
Since 2022, advocated by ONE BGI, Hemogen collaborates with BGI Group’s overseas team in holding multiple rounds of online meetings to discuss the implementation of gene therapy for thalassemia. During preliminary communications, partners from various countries have shown strong interest in Hemogen’s HGI-001 injection. To further facilitate the international deployment of HGI-001 injection, from March 14th to March 22nd, and again on March 29th to 30th, Dr. Chao Liu, the CEO of Hemogen, led a team on a visit to the Middle East (Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia) and Southeast Asia (Thailand) upon invitation. Zhiyu Peng, Deputy General Manager of BGI, Zhe Ma, Chief Representative of the BGI Group International west Asia region, Renyuan Luo, Deputy General Manager of BGI International War Zone in West Asia, Yacheng Luo, BGI Qatar National Representative, Wang Lili, BGI UAE National Representative, Sujie Cao, Chief Representative of the BGI Group International west Asia region, and Xiaohan Wang, General Manager of Bangkok Genomics, assisted in preliminary negotiations and participated in on-site partner meetings.
The Hemogen team and the BGI overseas team visited Sidra Medicine in Qatar
In recent years, BGI has made significant strides in the development of autonomous tools for “storing, reading, and writing” life’s code, as well as in the construction of large-scale platforms. These advancements have been pivotal in basic research on disease and health, as well as in fostering scientific collaborations both domestically and internationally, which left deep impression on partners of various countries. Overseas joint venture company conducted operational cooperation locally, building a strong reputation. Therefore, the brand influence established by BGI Group overseas has laid a solid foundation for the cooperation of Hemogen's thalassemia treatment product HGI-001 Injection. Moreover, the combination of Hemogen's thalassemia gene therapy and BGI's existing thalassemia screening products can provide a closed-loop solution of "screen-diagnose-treat" for local partners, which has been highly recognized by various countries.
During the visit to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Dr. Chao Liu and team members of Hemogen inspected partner hospitals' transplant wards and GMP plants, confirmed the conditions required for the overseas implementation of HGI-001 Injection, met with key leaders of local partners, established good working relationships. The parties further confirmed their intention to collaborate on gene therapy for thalassemia.They anticipate signing a commercial contract in the near future and officially launching clinical trials in the Middle East and Thailand within the year 2023.
Hemogen team and BGI’s overseas team visited the hematology ward at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The Hemogen team and the BGI overseas team visited the bone marrow transplant ward of Burjeel Hospital in the UAE
The Hemogen team visited the genomic medical center and hematology ward of King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia
The Hemogen team visited the Thalassemia Center of Siriraj Hospital in Thailand
The Hemogen team and the BGI overseas team visited the Stem Cell Center of the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand (cGMP plant)
Adhering to the mission and vision of "Gene Technology Benefits for Humanity" and under the call of ONE BGI concept, Hemogen will continue to cooperate with the BGI overseas team closely and promote the overseas implementation of HGI-001 Injection actively and the closed-loop of "screen-diagnose-treat," bringing the latest medical technology and scientific services to thalassemia and sickle cell patients in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, which truly promote the realization of the grand goal of "No Thalassemia in the World."
