Macrogen, a precision medical biotechnology company, and the Korea Association of Health Promotion (KAHP) signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to cooperate on building big data for predicting diseases, company officials said.

The agreement on the “Big Data Construction Project based on Medical and electric Information for Predicting Korean Diseases” calls for Macrogen and KAHP to cooperate to establish joint research and utilize systems for genomic information and medical information each institution has acquired.

Macrogen Chairman Seo Jeong-sun (left) and KAHP Chairman Chae Jong-il shake hands after signing the MOU on their joint project, Thursday.

The big data accumulated through joint research will be the core resource for the study of novel diseases, therapeutic markers, and the development of new drugs in the future. This will help to improve to predict the accuracy of individual diseases and drug reactions, as well as to research on drug repositioning to find new efficacy of existing drugs.

"Macrogen마크로젠 has the technology to accumulate and manage the genome database specialized for Asian people and to publish the result of the ‘Establishment of the highest precision Korean standard genome' in Nature magazine,” said Chae Jong-il채종일, chairman of KAHP. "Through this agreement, we hope that customers of KAHP will be able to receive more accurate and personalized disease prediction services and health care guidance based on their genomic information."

Microgen also expressed high expectations about the joint project. "We are pleased to be working with KAHP, which contributes to the early detection and prevention of diseases through accurate screening,” said Microgen Chairman Seo Jeong-sun서정선. “We hope that the two institutions will contribute to the promotion of public health as partners for future medical innovation, and open the era of participatory medicine."

Macrogen will also continue to establish “Macrogen Precision Medicine Cooperation Network,” which cooperates with major medical institutions in Korea and abroad to promote various joint research and commercialization based on genome information in addition to KAHP, the company officials said.

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