Attempt to bring NIPT technology from Vietnam to Southeast Asia

“HEALTHY BABIES, HAPPY MOMMIES” 

Starting from March 1st, 2023, Gene Solutions would like to announce a new genetic test – triSureFirst, a noninvasive prenatal test for detecting abnormalities of chromosome numbers in the fetus, such as: Down syndromes (trisomy 21), Edwards (trisomy 18) and Patau (trisomy 13). triSure First with a reasonable price, making it more accessible for every expectant woman.  

6 years ago, pregnant women encountered many difficulties when it comes to taking NIPT such as: suffering financial burden or sending blood samples abroad requires careful planning and attention to detail, long-lasting delivery time. Since 2018, Gene Solutions has pioneered to acquire Next Generation Sequencing in Vietnam and successfully developed the triSure NIPT test with our own validated algorithms, generated from the data of Vietnamese pregnant women, with faster delivery time, more accurate and much affordable than before. 

The journey to make NIPT more approachable to every pregnant woman in Vietnam. 

In order to accelerate the adoption of NIPT testing, Gene Solutions scientists are constantly striving to improve and launch triSureFirst at the most reasonable price, bringing NIPT testing to all pregnant women everywhere.  

The end of 2022 is also a turning point period when Gene Solutions started developing a partnership network in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, gradually bringing NIPT solutions to these markets. 

triSureFirst is a noninvasive prenatal screening test based on detecting cell-free DNA of the placenta released into the mother’s blood to assess the risk of the fetus suffering from birth defects due to chromosomal number abnormalities: Down, Edwards, Patau. Pregnant women, recommended to take this test, must be from 9 weeks of pregnancy. 

The advantage of the triSureFirst test is the sensitivity of more than 99%, with missing of less than 1 case per 100 cases. triSureFirst’s  positive predictive value is 94% for all 3 syndromes, which means the probability of pregnancy is high when the test result is positive (compared to the biochemical screening of only 5%) *. NIPT helps reduce the number of unnecessary amniocenteses by 25 times compared to conventional biochemical screenings**, lifting the psychological burden on both doctors and pregnant women. Thanks to its safety and accuracy, triSureFirst can be at the front line of prenatal screening, an alternative option for traditional methods such as double testing. 

Since 2018, Gene Solutions is proud to make accurate NIPT tests more accessible to more than 500,000 pregnant women, helping over 65,000 pregnant women avoid unnecessary amniocentesis, bringing peace of mind to parents.  

Khanh Linh (32 years old, HCMC) excitedly shared: “In the past, when expecting my first baby, with double test results, I was also recommended by the doctor to do more NIPT tests for accuracy, but at that time the test could not be done in Vietnam, therefore, my sample had to be sent to Singapore at more expensive price, I remember it was more than 1000 USD. Our family would suffer from the financial burden, so we didn’t have a chance to take that test. But this time the second baby is different, I was advised by the doctor to take triSure NIPT test for less than 2 million VND, much more reasonable than before, so I agreed to do it.”  

Thu Ha (27 years old, Hanoi) chose to take triSureFirst to assess the health risk of her fetus: “Amniocentesis will have the risk of infection or even miscarriage, although the rate is not much, but still. So if the triSureFirst test can reduce the likelihood of having an amniocentesis, it will give pregnant women a lot more peace of mind.” 

(*)Siljee, Jacqueline E., et al. “Positive predictive values for detection of trisomies 21, 18 and 13 and termination of pregnancy rates after referral for advanced maternal age, first trimester combined test or ultrasound abnormalities in a national screening program (2007-2009)”. Prenatal diagnosis 34.3 (2014): 259-264. 

(**) Research published on Vietnam Medical Journal: “Identify the PPV of noninvasive prenatal testing triSure NIPT in clinical practice”. 

Currently Gene Solutions provides a wide range of noninvasive prenatal tests with different screening ranges. These tests are validated for its advantages on many international publications, and proven its impact in thousands of hospitals and clinics, obstetricians across Vietnam to recommend and prescribe for pregnant women: 

• triSureFirst – Screening for 3 most common abnormalities: Down, Edwards, Patau

• triSure3 – Screening for 4 most common abnormalities including Down, Edwards, Patau, Turner

• triSure9.5 – Screening for 6 abnormalities in the fetus: Down syndrome, Edwards, Patau, Turner, Klinefelter and Triple X, also 9 recessive single gene disorders. 

• triSure – Screening for abnormalities of chromosome in 23 pairs of trisomy and 9 recessive single gene disorders for the mothers. 

• triSure Procare – Comprehensive screening for 25 abnormalities of chromosome numbers in fetus, 25 dominant single gene disorders in fetus, 9 recessive monogenic diseases in mothers.