"Our goal is to launch EarlyPap, our next-generation flagship cervical cell collection brush, as early as the first half of this year and achieve a 30% share of the global market."
Lim Wook-bin, CEO of Biodyne (314930.KQ), made the remarks in an interview with The Seoul Economic Daily on the 6th, describing EarlyPap as "a tool that allows patients to collect cervical cells themselves for the early diagnosis of women's diseases such as cervical cancer." Biodyne is the company that in 2019 licensed out "Blowing," a liquid-based cytology technology for cervical cancer, to Roche. The firm drew market attention when it was reported that Biodyne receives a royalty rate of 10% from Roche's cervical cancer diagnostic device "Ventana SP400," which applies the technology.
EarlyPap is a product Biodyne developed after the Blowing technology transfer, directly targeting the global market. "When I visited a cervical cell collection room at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic during an overseas business trip, I saw that the environment was poor and the equipment looked like a torture device. I felt I understood why women's cervical cancer screening rates are low," Lim said. "The World Health Organization (WHO) has placed 'eradication of cervical cancer' at the forefront, but cell collection at hospitals is not easy worldwide, making 'self-collection' a key topic."
EarlyPap's ability to collect cervical cells conveniently without the help of medical staff is thanks to a special collection tool and specimen preservation fluid technology, for which Biodyne has registered multiple patents. According to clinical trial results that Biodyne presented at a cytopathology conference last year, the reliability of cervical cells collected by patients themselves using EarlyPap was slightly higher than when collected by medical staff using conventional brushes. "Various self-collection tools currently on the global market can test for human papillomavirus (HPV) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), but EarlyPap is the only product that can also perform cell collection," Lim said. "Because patients can collect cells without pain and the collected cells have high testing suitability, it is also useful for medical staff in Korea, where self-collection is prohibited."
Biodyne recently broke ground on a new factory in Hanoi, Vietnam, to produce EarlyPap brushes and other products. Once completed in November, the facility will provide EarlyPap production capacity of 50 million units per year. "We will launch EarlyPap in domestic and overseas markets as early as the first half of this year," Lim said. "Without technology transfer, we plan to first begin sales in the domestic market and with partner companies in Russia, Japan and Vietnam."
Biodyne has set a goal of capturing the entire cervical cell collection brush market, going beyond self-collection. The global market for cervical cell collection brushes as a whole reaches 1 billion units per year. "By setting a low price, our goal is to push our market share up to 30% over the long term," Lim said. "Existing products are priced at around 6,000 to 7,000 won, but we will cut the price to less than half to neutralize the competition."
Biodyne's strategy is to build references mainly at domestic university hospitals and use them for global marketing. "Once specialists at university hospitals try EarlyPap first, they will feel there is no difference between collection by medical staff and self-collection by patients, and this fact will naturally become known to the global market," Lim said. "Since cervical cancer mortality can be significantly reduced just by early detection, we will contribute to women's health through EarlyPap."
