G42 Healthcare, Oxford Nanopore sign agreement

Abu Dhabi-based G42 Healthcare has a signed a distribution agreement with Oxford Nanopore as a channel partner for their DNA/RNA sequencing products across GCC countries, Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt and Iraq.

Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing devices include the MinION, GridION, PromethION, VolTRAX
and Flongle. The technology supports scientific analyses to further understand the biology of humans, bacteria, viruses, and environments as well as to understand diseases such as cancer.

With this channel partnership, G42 Healthcare aims to build on its current sequencing
capabilities by offering Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing technology, which offers a range of
market-disrupting features. This includes the ability to sequence any length of DNA/RNA
fragments, from short to ultra-long, thereby offering richer genomic insights; the ability to
stream data in real-time for rapid insights; the ability to sequence native DNA/RNA strands to
elucidate richer information including real-time methylation data.

A range of analyses from whole genome assembly to targeted sequencing or metagenomic analysis can be performed. In addition to distribution of the technology, G42 Healthcare has the option to provide sequencing services internationally, with the potential to offer sequencing of human and non-human samples to a range of customers including governments, research institutes, hospitals, and omics centres in the GCC and beyond.

Ashish Koshy, CEO of G42 Healthcare, said: “Our agreement with Oxford Nanopore assumes great significance as it will help us achieve real-time, high-performance, accessible, and scalable analysis of DNA and RNA, to support rapid clinical research and outbreak surveillance. We are excited about potential future developments that could include providing high-impact testing with nanopore sequencing.

“G42 Healthcare will leverage its experience to support projects across GCC and penetrate new
markets across the region. As an end-to-end service provider, we can support with long and
short-read sequencing requirements regardless of location, capabilities, and infrastructure of
governments, healthcare providers, and research institutes. This agreement is a strategic step
forward to realising our vision to develop a world-class healthcare sector in the UAE.”

Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, said: “Our technology delivers
accurate, comprehensive genomic data, in real-time and in formats that can scale from pocket
size to ultra-high output. We have developed a new generation of sensing technology that uses
nanopore – nano-scale holes – embedded in high-tech electronics to perform precise molecular
analyses.”