Continuing Interest in Korean Diagnostic Technology during the COVID-19 Crisis
Bertis Appoints the Seven Greatest Scholars in the World as Advisors

- The global top-tier oncologist from Harvard Medical School and MIT in the USA and Kyoto University in Japan

are participating in the advisory board. 
- Advisory board members recognized Bertis’ proteomics technology and are to take the lead in product development

and the global commercialization of MASTOCHECK through joint studies.
 

<First row, from the left:, Professor Alex Toker, Professor Mehra Golshan and Dr. Viktor Adalsteinsson.
Second row, from the left: Professor Masakazu Toi, Center Director Veronique Tan Kiak Mien, advisor Philip Reimann and Professor Marion Kiechle>

Bertis (CEO: Seung-man Han), a development company for early diagnosis technology based on proteomics (research that analyzes whether there are any abnormal functions or alternations in protein structures), has once again been recognized for its technology as it appoints the top-notch scholars in the medical field from the U.S.A., Singapore, Japan, and Germany as members of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

A total of seven members of the board were appointed this time: from the U.S.A., ▲ Professor Alex Toker of the Harvard Medical School, ▲ Mehra Golshan, professor of the Harvard Medical School and surgeon at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute and a Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospital, ▲ Dr. Viktor Adalsteinsson, team Leader of the Gerstner Center for Cancer Diagnostics of the Broad Institute jointly operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University; from Asia, ▲ Professor Masakazu Toi of the Breast Surgery Department of Kyoto University in Japan, ▲ Director Veronique Tan Kiak Mien of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Breast Centre, also Head of the Breast Surgery Department of the National Cancer Centre Singapore; from Europe, ▲ Philip Reimann, the medical advisor of Medizin and 4SC, biotechnology companies from Germany, and Teva, a global pharmaceutical company and ▲ Professor Marion Kiechle of the Technical University of Munich, also chairman of the Bavarian Bioethics Commission and the Central Ethics Commission for Stem Cell Research of the German Federal Government and the Bavarian State Minister of Sciences, Research, and the Arts.

  Cancer specialists SAB from all around the world have validated the proteomics technology of Bertis independently and acknowledged its technological power. Furthermore, they have confirmed the excellence and efficacy of MASTOCHECK1, the world’s first early diagnosis solution for breast cancer, and declared their full support in advancing the technology through joint studies. The advisory board members will share breast cancer cases from each country to increase MASTOCHECK’s chances of global commercialization and aid studies on technologies for overseas market development, early detection of cancer, and the development of new drugs.

“It is unusual for so many great scholars from around the world who are considered leading experts in their fields join the SAB of an Asian venture company, not a global corporation,” said Seung-man Han, CEO of Bertis. He also said that he hopes the superior knowledge and experience of the advisory board members will be a great help in developing new proteomics-based early diagnosis technology as well as in achieving competitiveness for MASTOCHECK. 

“Bertis has highly advanced technology for a venture company. MASTOCHECK is likely to open up new possibilities for the early diagnosis of breast cancer,” said Professor Alex Toker of Harvard Medical School. He added, “I am even gladder to work together with a company like Bertis, a leader in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry of Korea, as the whole world is paying attention to the Korean diagnostic technology because of the COVID-19 situation.”

Meanwhile, Bertis received support from leading institutions and scholars. For example, it signed an MOU for global joint R&D for a proteomics-based early diagnosis solution with the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (Fraunhofer IZI), a top private institute in Germany, in October last year.2  

1) Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s medical device e-petition site. MASTOCHECK product information. Accessed March 12, 2020 at https://emed.mfds.go.kr/#!CECAB01F020
2) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING between Bertis Inc. and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.