Recently, The Information, a leading high tech media in Silicon Valley, released their “The 50 Most Promising Startups of 2021”which includes 50 startup companies with high growth potential worldwide. Due to the rise of outstanding Chinese companies in the high tech industry, The Information created a separate “China” section this year. Accunome Sciences is one of the seven companies listed in the“China” section.
The information evaluates Accunome as follows:
Accunome is trying to become one of the domestic pioneers in the field of testing patients for infectious disease using molecular diagnostics—tests that examine genomes. The field is still relatively new in China’s medical sector. Western medical diagnostics conglomerates make such tests, but their presence is limited in China because of regulatory hurdles and meeting Chinese hospital labs’ expectations for low prices. Accunome says its diagnostic instruments and test kits allow hospitals to conduct automated tests without the need to hire specially trained staff. The company says its instruments have fulfilled local requirements in China and it expects to obtain final regulatory approval by the end of this year. Profit margins are slim for such instruments, but diagnostic companies usually make a bigger profit by selling test kits that must be used with the instruments—similar to a razor and blade business model. Accunome says it is aiming to launch its first test kit, for influenza, by the end of 2022 after completing a clinical trial that will likely take about six months.
