The business that is now operating under Genetic Technologies Limited had its beginnings with a private company named GeneType AG that had been incorporated in Zug, Switzerland in September 1989.  GeneType AG was established by Dr. Mervyn Jacobson and Dr. Malcolm Simons after they met and resolved to exploit the commercialisation of the hypothesis that the non-coding region of the human HLA gene complex of chromosome 6 is a highly ordered reservoir of genetic information. In other words, the research undertaken by GeneType AG successfully proved that the non-coding or “junk” regions of DNA were in reality not “junk”, but a valuable source of genetic information, a fact which had been overlooked by the scientific community up until that time.

Changing its name to Genetic Technologies, the company has established a fee-for-service genetic testing business that has grown to become the largest non-government operation of its type in Australia. The business performs a wide variety of genetic tests on humans and animals which includes human diagnostics, forensics and animal pedigree tests. In July 2008, Frozen Puppies Dot Com Pty. Ltd. was acquired to build animal fertility capabilities into the current range of animal disease and trait tests. Now called ‘Animal Genetic & Fertility Network’ this section of the business offers a wide range of reproductive services in specialist facilities in Asia and Australia.

The Company also conducts a successful out-licensing program in respect of the non-coding technology that was successfully developed by GeneType AG prior to its acquisition by the Company. This program, which began in earnest in 2002, has since resulted in some 38 licenses having been granted to a wide variety of genetic testing and biotechnology companies located around the world, generating contracted revenues for Genetic Technologies with a total value in excess of $60 million.

Genetic Technologies also actively supports three distinct, late-stage research projects in the fields of genetics and related areas which are steadily advancing towards commercialisation of the underlying technology (refer to Research and IP).

The corporate structure of the Genetic Technologies group can be depicted as follows: