News of a coronavirus infection group in Wuhan first arrived in South Korea on December 31, 2019. Seegene chief executive Chun Jong-Yoon, 63, was already predicting the worst: the risk of a global eruption was high.
Chun immediately stopped all other work at his Seoul-based biotechnics company, Seegene, and ordered his researchers and staff to focus entirely on producing a diagnostic test for Covid-19. "The development of the test had to be very, very fast. "We had to be ready before the situation got serious."
In two weeks, Seegene had developed its own test, Allplex 2019-nCoV Assay. On January 27, after the first confirmed case in South Korea, Chun received an urgent request from the South Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC); the agency requested data for the screening test set and soon assessed that Seegene’s development process fully complied with KCDC guidelines.
On February 12, KCDC approved the Seegene set for use. Such a process usually takes at least six months; European health authorities approved it five days later. "It was an urgent need, so it was important that we respond quickly. The fact that KCDC approved the test set in two weeks was unprecedented, ”says Chun.
It was the availability of Seegene test sets, along with the Korean government's swift response to mass testing, that helped South Korea contain the spread of Covid-19. A country of 51 million people, South Korea has registered less than 10,000 cases of infection, a lower figure than in Switzerland, for example, with a population of 8.6 million.
When Forbes Korea interviewed Chun in mid-March, Seegene was already overwhelmed with the order. It had previously produced 100,000 tests a week, while its capacity had increased to 1 million tests. The test boxes go to 40 countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and neighboring Asian countries. The test has also been submitted to the US and awaits FDA approval.
With infections still spreading around the world, Seegene is now preparing to further increase production. "Right now we have stopped everything else and are doing our best to produce test sets for the Covid-19. The demand from governments and medical agencies has been enormous.
We can potentially supply 3 million test kits per week. But if there are still shortcomings, we can provide expertise [for others] to develop the set for free. We have only one goal: The virus should not be spread due to lack of testing, ”says Chun.
Seegene is housed in two buildings southeast of Seoul. By nature, test production does not require large spaces or multiple voluminous machines. Essential is the work, so Seegene has doubled its staff to meet current requirements, implementing a two-shift work system that it plans to do with three soon. The company plans to transfer its facilities to the outskirts of Seoul next year so that it can further expand its capacity.
Chun attributes his commitment to medicine and the development of tests to diagnose disease, his early battle with tuberculosis.
He was diagnosed with the disease as soon as he finished high school, and had to undergo rehabilitation for a full five years without being able to attend a high school. After earning a degree in general equivalence in secondary education he was finally able to go to Concuk University in Seoul, where he graduated in agronomy.
But he did not stop at that station. He completed his schooling in the United States. After earning a doctorate in life sciences from the University of Tenessi, he then pursued a doctorate from Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Chun returned to South Korea in 1995, and after trying to do DNA research, he became a professor of biology at Seha Whans University in Seoul. But in his mind lived the plan to become an entrepreneur. "Even when I was in school, I thought about starting a business. In life we can do more with business than with research. But it takes perseverance to run a successful business, ”he says.
Chun set up Seegene in 2000 with an investment of about $ 240,000 borrowed from his uncle. In the first three years, Seegene had zero income. "Even though it was a difficult time, I did not stop looking for something to do. I knew I could produce something extraordinary, the whole world would turn a blind eye to us. "
Seegene thus conducted a series of tests to diagnose respiratory, digestive, sexually transmitted and cancer diseases. But we had only a few requests from local hospitals, Chun recalls. But it wouldn't take long for Seegene to finally find its market abroad: 82% of Seegene's revenue now comes from exports. The US and Europe are its main markets.
Chun says he has traveled the world to personally demonstrate Seegene's tests and believes in his company's global success. Even before the coronavirus eruption, the company’s net income multiplied and went to $ 105.3 million. Seegene shares have doubled since January and the company already has a market value close to $ 2 billion.
Seegene tests have a single test buffer, which identifies three Covid-19 genes. Because the testing process is perfect, only one-tenth of the time is required compared to other manual tests, and the risk of human error in determining the diagnosis is reduced.
While other tests require the presence of antibodies, the Seegene test uses what is called the polymerase chain reaction to detect the virus present in body fluids before antibodies are formed.
Such a molecular diagnosis - in contrast to the old immuno-diagnosis - is faster and more accurate, Chun says. With this test, people infected with Covid-19 can be detected even before they show any symptoms of the disease.
In addition to inhibiting coronavirus spread, Chun sees his approach to testing as a victory for molecular diagnostics. "It's been ten years that I've been aiming and working to make molecular diagnostics easier, more affordable and more widespread," says Chun. / Forbes
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