On September 6, 2022, the Azerbaijan Thalassemia Center and BGI held a virtual signing ceremony to seal a Collaboration Agreement. The partnership aims to improve thalassemia screening in Azerbaijan using genetic technology.
In early 2021, on the occasion of the announcement of “Prevention and Control of Global Hemoglobinopathies”, the BGI Poverty Control and Prevention Panel clearly stated that they sought to export China’s advanced thalassemia technologies to countries of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, to jointly achieve comprehensive control of thalassemia. to the global community.
In April 2022, BGI’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Huada Biotechnology (Wuhan) Co., Ltd, obtained the Medical Device Registration Certificate from the National Drug Administration for its Alpha Thalassemia Gene Detection Kit and beta (combining the probe-anchored polymerization sequencing method).
This agreement was signed by Dr. Valeh Huseynov, the Executive Director of the National Center of Hematology and Transfusion, Dr. Agha Rza Aghayev, the supervisor of the medical genetics department of Azerbaijan, and Mr. Jeremy Cao, the vice president of BGI IntDx. The two organizations have entered into a strategic partnership and will work together for a research project on thalassemia studies in the country.
Dr. Agha Rza Aghayev, supervisor of the Department of Medical Genetics of Azerbaijan, said the following: “Thank you BGI for the support and collaboration, I hope this research program will help us create an effective method and well designed to detect thalassemia.”
Azerbaijan is one of the countries with the highest prevalence rate of thalassemia. Our thalassemia gene screening tests combine a state-of-the-art high-throughput sequencing platform with the benefits of comprehensive, low-cost screening. It helps the scientific research association in the comparison of methodologies, improves the collaboration of new technologies in clinical trials and explores the screening of thalassemia in Azerbaijan. BGI also has a global hemoglobinopathy foundation focused on the fight against thalassemia worldwide, our aim is to make the world a better place without this disease. Therefore, BGI proposes this agreement to reaffirm that we are united with the thalassemia center of Azerbaijan and its people.”
Zhiyu Peng, Vice President of BGI Genomics
Jeremy Cao, vice president of BGI IntDx, said at the signing ceremony: “This is one of our pioneering overseas thalassemia projects and this agreement commits us to work together more closely to achieve common goals, research and control of thalassemia, and the vision that in the not too distant future there will be a world without this disease I would like to say that I am convinced that with our efforts and commitment, we can achieve more and continue to develop even stronger relations and friendships between the people of Azerbaijan and BGI”.
Thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder, caused by insufficient production of hemoglobin in the red blood cells that deliver oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body. People with thalassemia have much less hemoglobin than normal people and usually suffer from mild to severe anemia.
Azerbaijan Thalassemia Center is the main leading public medical institution in the fight against thalassemia in the region. This Center not only serves patients suffering from this disease but also people with other genetic conditions. The country also offers a foundation that provides medical services to foreign citizens at this Center.