China’s rising genomics start-ups

Behind bellwethers BGI Genomics Co. Ltd. and WuXi NextCode Genomics Inc., a new generation of Chinese genomics companies is emerging with ambitions to solve urgent problems, including early cancer detection and clinical trial recruitment, by mining health and genomic data on massive scales. While the field’s fast growth and alignment with national priorities are signs China could take pole position in genomics, the big unknown is how diagnostics regulation will influence the landscape.

China was an early entrant to genomics, precipitated by its participation in the Human Genome Project in the late 1990s, according to BGI Genomics CSO Mao Mao...