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| Genetic testing and therapies Under our recommendations, Hong Kong universities and
enterprises will join force with Shenzhen’s research institutes and
Genetic testing is the evaluation of gene-related diseases, physical enterprises to pursue collaborative R&D through the large biotech
fitness and personal traits by employing the tools of chromosome research institute (see Recommendation 1.3 for details), with the
structures and DNA sequences. Armed with genetic technology, Hong Kong corporate branch focusing on Hong Kong and overseas
scientists have developed more targeted therapies that treat markets and the Shenzhen branch on the Mainland market. We
illnesses by correcting or replacing faulty genes. Genetic testing, also recommend relaxing market access restrictions, which we will
diagnostics and therapies provide the foundations for sustained elaborate on later (see Recommendation 6 for details).
development of precision medicine, which, unlike conventional
medicine, takes into consideration differences in genes, the
environment and living habits to achieve customised and precise
treatment. Hong Kong universities have achieved excellent results
in basic and applied genomic research, most notably in the
research output of Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming of CUHK.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen enjoys certain advantage in genetic testing
and precision therapies. In addition to boasting leading national
enterprises like BGI Group, Shenzhen has already developed into
the world’s largest genomic research centre and the national
leader of DNA sequencing application. Shenzhen’s China National
GeneBank is the world’s fourth-largest comprehensive gene bank
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and contributes to roughly 40% of global DNA sequencing data.
Hong Kong and Shenzhen can therefore achieve win-win co-
operation in these areas to unleash enormous potential.

35 The world’s three largest gene banks are the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the US, the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and the DNA Data
Bank of Japan (DDBJ).
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