Curetis and MGI Advance Strategic Partnership in NGS-based Molecular Microbiology

Curetis N.V. , a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced that the Company is advancing its strategic alliance in NGS-based infectious disease testing. To this end, Curetis has signed a Supply and Authorization Agreement as well as a further R&D Collaboration and Service Agreement with MGI, a fully-owned subsidiary of BGI Group, one of the world's leading genome sequencing centers headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, P. R. China.

The parties aim to integrate Curetis´ patented Unyvero Lysator-based sample preparation technology and MGI’s NGS next generation sequencing technology to develop a fully automated workflow that allows the processing of any type of native clinical sample with the subsequent NGS-based detection of microbial pathogens and genetic markers for antibiotic resistances. Under the terms of the agreement and subject to certain conditions, MGI will reimburse Curetis for supporting the workflow integration and transferring this advanced technology, and pay technology access fees, a transfer price on OEM hardware and consumables, and royalties on product sales. Further financial details were not disclosed.

In addition, the partners expect to further execute the strategic roadmap set forth in their Memorandum of Understanding signed in September 2017 by also advancing their collaboration to develop a targeted NGS assay for microbial infections based on the GEAR GEnetic Antibiotic Resistance and Susceptibility technology platform and database from Ares Genetics GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of Curetis.

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The Companies are further exploring commercial collaboration opportunities to fast track market development and commercialization of NGS-based molecular microbiology offerings in China and Europe.

“We are excited that we were able to take the next step in our strategic alliance with MGI based on our Memorandum of Understanding signed in September last year,” said Dr. Achim Plum, CBO of Curetis and a Managing Director at Ares Genetics. “This deal highlights the importance of our proprietary Unyvero technology for an efficient and fast diagnosis of infectious diseases and underlines the uniqueness of our Unyvero Lysator technology.”

“With the recent launch of two next-generation sequencing platforms, MGISEQ-2000 and MGISEQ-200, the modular NGS workstation MGIFLP, we have demonstrated that we are constantly thriving to improve the design, integration and automation of our solutions to allow our customers to use NGS-based applications in their labs efficiently and at a lower cost,” said Mr. Feng Mu, CEO and Managing Director of MGI. “We believe our customers will greatly benefit from the Curetis Unyvero sample preparation technology as it provides a solution that works with any clinical sample to make NGS-based molecular pathogen identification and genetic resistance profiling even faster and easier. As we belive that this market is rapidly evolving, we are also exploring ways to collaborate with Curetis and Ares to fast track market development and commercialization of our molecular microbiology offerings in China and Europe.”

“MGI is a first mover in the NGS space of infectious disease diagnostics in terms of workflow integration, automation and affordability,” said Dr. Oliver Schacht, CEO of Curetis. “Therefore, they are a great partner of strategic relevance for us. The collaboration enables new commercial opportunities for both of our technologies, Unyvero and GEAR.”