Domestic development of a non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT), which is more economical and more efficient than the existing method, is expected. SeaSun Biomaterials (CEO Park Hee-kyung) announced on the 28th that it was finally selected as the lead agency for the “Development of prenatal and postpartum genetic testing technology to detect chromosomal abnormality syndrome and febrile genetic disease”. This project is one of the commercialization-linked technology development projects supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Industrial Technology Promotion Agency (KIAT).

Accordingly, SeaSun Biomaterials plans to develop and commercialize a non-invasive prenatal test kit that tests for congenital diseases that are directly related to the health of newborns before childbirth, receiving government funding of about KRW 1.5 billion over the next 21 months. In this project, Seoul National University Hospital will participate as a clinical trial institution, and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information will support overseas commercialization.

In the meantime, in order to check fetal chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome, Edward syndrome, and Patau syndrome before childbirth, tests that directly collect amniotic fluid and chorionic cells have been the mainstay. This is an invasive method, and the mother suffered from the specimen collection and had to bear the risk of miscarriage or infection, even though it was minimal.
 
In addition, it was pointed out that even if a test that collects the mother's blood is used, it is a method that relies on next-generation base sequence analysis (NGS), so the test cost is expensive, around 1 million won, and the test period takes around 2 weeks. In addition, overseas expansion is limited as related technologies are caught in international patent disputes.