Francisco Rodriguez, Business Development Director, Middle East and India, IGENOMIX, in an interaction with Sanjiv Das, talks about business prospects of IGENOMIX in the Indian market
Infertility is a growing concern in India and worldwide. Being a leading provider of genetic testing services for reproductive health patients and clinics, are there any new techniques in the pipeline for the Indian market?
IGENOMIX is constantly trying to awaken the population to the various genetic diseases and also trying to guide young couples, planning to start a family, about genetic disorders that they might pass on to their kids. We’ve had our presence in more than 50 countries, and provided services to IVF clinics for more than 18 years. Now as we are spreading our roots in India, we have introduced a panel for the carrier genetic diseases for the Indian population. We have also launched two very important tests Non-Invasive ERA and Non-Invasive PGS that require no biopsy. In addition to these we have also introduced cancer screening panels for the Indian population.
Recently, IGENOMIX has strengthened its international expansion with the entry of the venture capital fund Charme Capital Partners. Can you throw some light on the same?
Yes, Graham Snudden, the founder of BlueGenome has joined us as a shareholder. This venture will help us in reinforcing our R&D and will definitely help us in researching and bringing new technologies and development in the field of genetics. Not just that Charme Capital Partners will strengthen our market presence through their important networks and contacts.
In the year 2013, you have opened a lab in New Delhi? Do you plan to venture into other cities also?
As the business will grow, we can potentially see IGENOMIX expanding. The Indian market is in the early stage for the moment and Igenomix is committed to bring new technology to India. With an existing lab in North India, we are likely to see us venturing in South India with future possibilities.
What is your growth trajectory for the Indian market?
We stepped in the Indian markets in the year 2013, in 2014-2015 the growth was 60 per cent in terms of sales, and we achieved profitability in our operations. India is a tough market which is full of myths and rumours regarding infertility, obstetrics and gynaecology. Therefore, it isn’t easy to increase the professionalism in this sector with the use of genetic service. So our only recourse are the doctors and the physicians. Genetics has come to stay as an important and essential part for the physicians and doctors, otherwise the clinics will stagnate and will not be using the latest technology, and for sure will not be competitive against other clinics.
What services do IGENOMIX offer?
IGENOMIX has dedicated itself to help have a future generation that is healthy and free of any kind of genetic disorder, not only that we are bent at offering effective solutions to different infertility problems. We offer PGD which is a Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, that is performed during IVF treatment so as to screen embryos that are at risk to develop a serious genetic disease. We also offer PGS or Preimplantation Genetic Screening for aneuploidy, which is a very important test conducted during IVF treatments to screen embryos for numerical chromosomal abnormalities. Another test is ERA, Endometrial Receptivity Analysis that indicates the window of implantation during IVF, hence increasing the chances of successful transfer. Then the next test helps to eliminate the biggest worry of all expecting Parents-Miscarriage. Not many people know that majority of miscarriages are caused by chromosome abnormalities. POC or Products of Conception test helps answer all the questions of the anxious couples who worry about, “will it happen again?”. Next is CGT and NACE, CGT- Carrier Genetic Test, helps in determining the risk of having a baby with a genetic disease and NACE-Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening test, that informs pregnant women about the chromosomal abnormalities that are the major causes of Down’s, Edward’s and Patau’s Syndrome. Then we have MItoScore, which is a Mitochondrial biomarker that indicates the level of energy of the embryo and helps in selecting the embryos that has the highest probability for successful implantation during IVF.
What differentiates IGENOMIX from other leading service providers?
What makes us different is that we understand how anxious the ‘would be parents’ are so we have cut down all the mediators and given a direct access to the lab directors and technicians for the counselling and tech support. The test samples are handled with utmost care and strict quality measures are taken for the best results. IGENOMIX covers all the genetic needs, as we offer test that cover pre-conception phase, pre-implantation as well as pre-natal phase. We use the latest art of technology, that includes Arrays CGH and next generation sequencing that gives out results that are highly accurate. Not just that We invest 15 per cent of the profit in R&D as a means of providing the best and latest services to our clients.
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