OneOme is pushing forward with its global expansion, announcing its first commercial break into three Asian territories on Wednesday.
 
The Minneapolis startup’s RightMed kit, which tells patients what medications may cause adverse effects based on their genetic makeup, is now set to launch in Japan, Hong Kong and Macau.
 
OneOme’s overseas extension was made possible by Rainbow Genomics, a genetic testing and information company that specializes in Asian genetics. Through their partnership, OneOme said its RightMed test would become available to the network of physicians and hospitals that work with Rainbow Genomics.
 
“This is an exciting partnership,” Paul Owen, CEO of OneOme, said in a statement. “OneOme looks forward to providing our RightMed pharmacogenomic solution to patients. Our global growth is helping OneOme unleash the power of pharmacogenomics to make prescriptions personal around the world.”
 
OneOme’s take on pharmacogenomics, or the study of how DNA affects a person’s response to drugs, could be uniquely valuable to Asian citizens, in particular, according to Rainbow Genomics CEO Daniel Siu.
 
“Patients throughout Hong Kong, Japan, and Macau are increasingly taking medications developed by U.S. and European companies,” he said in a statement. “These drugs are often sold to clinicians with limited dosing and side effect information based on Asian genetics. As a result, patients suffer from imprecise medications and treatment due to outdated trial-and-error techniques.”
 
The technology underpinning OneOme’s software was developed and licensed out by the Mayo Clinic. After its founding in 2013, the company quickly received investments from the Rochester-based health care organization, as well as Invenshure LLC, an incubator and venture investor out of Minneapolis.
 
The RightMed kit officially hit the market in July 2016 and had buyers within several months.
 
To date, OneOme’s RightMed kit has been ordered by more than 350 hospitals, clinicians and other customers in 17 countries. Less than two months ago, the startup inked a deal to bring its flagship product to Canada and, shortly before that, to Australia and Mexico.
 
According to OneOme spokeswoman Dione Bailey, its Rainbow Genomics deal isn’t the first play the company has made in Asia. “One of our top clients is based in Singapore,” she said, “and we plan to share more details on that partnership moving forward.”