Reflecting on Progress and Anticipating Breakthroughs in 2024

Happy New Year! I hope all of you celebrated the start of 2024 safely and in good spirits with loved ones. As the festive season comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on CENTOGENE and industry milestones of the past 12 months and share with you our aspirations and commitment for 2024.

One of CENTOGENE’s notable achievements in 2023 was the expansion of MOx, our multiomic offering, now enriched with transcriptomics. Additionally, the introduction of our advanced Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), NEW CentoGenome?, which covers pathogenic variants tied to spinal muscular atrophy, Gaucher disease, and Parkinson's disease, marked a significant milestone. Collaborating with physicians worldwide, we are now able to provide more widespread rapid and reliable diagnoses – leading to accelerated precision medicine in rare and neurodegenerative diseases.

The CENTOGENE leadership and I are extremely proud of our dedicated research team, whose collaboration with institutions around the world led to our 300th peer-reviewed publication by the end of year. Each unlocked insight on countless diseases, such as Niemann-Pick disease, Gaucher disease, as well as dystonia and parkinsonism, has contributed to the diagnosis and treatment of patients globally, with an impact that will be seen for many years to come.

We also teamed up with partners, including Lifera, Takeda, and Alector. Leveraging the CENTOGENE Biodatabank, with more than 800,000 patients represented from over 120 highly diverse countries, we have been able to generate unparalleled real-world evidence that ultimately accelerates diagnoses and de-risks drug discovery, development, and commercialization. We have focused on expanding our Pharma business and strategic partnership models in 2023, and we look forward to continuing to see this compound in the year to come as we work together to deliver data-driven, life-changing answers.

Zooming out to the industry landscape, 2023 witnessed tremendous progress with the FDA approval of over 50 treatments, including those for rare, complex, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, alpha-mannosidosis, Friedrich’s ataxia, Rett syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Fabry disease, Pompe disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis. The recent establishment of the FDA Genetic Metabolic Diseases Advisory Committee (GeMDAC) fills us with optimism for intensified efforts in advancing therapies for those with these conditions.

Scientific breakthroughs, from CRISPR-based therapies and AI-powered drug development to RNA advancements and gene therapies, have also set the stage for a promising future in precision medicine. The progress made thus far is remarkable, and we are all eager at CENTOGENE to play a part in the innovations that lie ahead.

As we step into 2024, we reaffirm our commitment to transforming lives through innovative approaches. May this year bring us closer to breakthroughs, foster new partnerships, and, most importantly, improve outcomes for the patients we serve!