BNO BIO, a joint venture between Bukwang Pharm and chemical and energy company OCI, said it has decided to invest in a foreign biotech venture that owns a technology for the early detection of cancer.

BNO BIO will invest $1 million in Nucleix, and the investment is the first since the company’s foundation in July last year.

Established in 2008, the Israeli biotech venture has a technology that uses liquid biopsy samples to detect cancer early. Liquid biopsy uses blood and urine and detects the DNA of cancerous cells. Nucleix developed the platform based on its bioinformatics technology. It can diagnose early cancer more accurately through its machine learning algorithm, according to the company.

“Among other liquid biopsy techniques, that of Nucleix has higher sensitivity and specificity,” it said. Nucleix received European approval for its device of early cancer detection and is conducting a test to win the U.S. license.

BNO Bio had earlier said it would invest over 10 billion won ($8.6 million) a year in various projects for new drug discovery and investment in promising venture firms.

“On the occasion of the upcoming investment, we will enhance new drug business through diversifying business portfolio under the strategy of open innovation based on the pharmaceutical and chemical advantages of Bukwang and OCI,” an official at BNO BIO said.

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