3billion

3billion is a South Korean bioinformatics company specializing in artificial intelligence-driven genetic diagnostics for rare diseases. Founded in October 2016 by CEO Changwon Keum, a bioinformatics expert, the firm originated as a spinoff from Macrogen Inc. The company's mission is to shorten the arduous diagnostic journey for patients with rare genetic disorders, which can often take years and multiple hospital visits to yield a conclusive result.

The company's business model centers on providing comprehensive genetic testing services to medical institutions, clinics, and directly to patients globally. Revenue is generated from its suite of diagnostic products, which includes Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) tests. Its clientele consists of over 160 institutions in more than 70 countries. 3billion went public on the KOSDAQ in November 2024, raising approximately $10.25 million to fund global expansion, research and development, and a new venture into developing a drug pipeline for rare diseases.

3billion's core offering is an AI-powered platform that analyzes a patient's entire genome to screen for over 7,000 rare diseases simultaneously. Its proprietary technology includes a variant interpretation system called EVIDENCE, which can process over 100,000 genetic mutations in under five minutes per patient, a significant reduction from the hours required for manual interpretation. A key service feature is the complimentary and continuous reanalysis of patient data; as new scientific discoveries are made, the company re-examines previously undiagnosed cases, which has led to new diagnoses for about 10% of these patients. Beyond diagnostics, the company is leveraging its vast genomic dataset to build a drug discovery platform, aiming to identify and validate novel treatments for rare conditions.

Keywords: rare disease diagnostics, genetic testing, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, whole genome sequencing, whole exome sequencing, AI diagnostics, genomic data analysis, Changwon Keum, Macrogen spinoff, KOSDAQ, DNA sequencing, genetic variant interpretation, EVIDENCE software, drug discovery, personalized medicine, clinical genomics, South Korean biotech, orphan diseases, molecular diagnostics