A new era for health
Genomics, Deloitte and AWS’ cloud-based solution to transform drug discovery and development
Super-charging drug discovery and development
Empowered by data and technology, governments, consumers, healthcare providers and life sciences organisations are recognising the benefits of a proactive approach to health.
At the forefront of this shift, away from a one-size-fits-all approach to medicine and towards personalisation, is Genomics: a company on a mission to help people live longer, healthier lives.
Its Health Insights tests are helping people understand their personal risk of common chronic diseases through polygenic risk scores, which analyse millions of genetic variants across the genome.
And with its cloud-based, cutting-edge, AI-enabled, genetic analytics platform “Mystra”, Genomics is super-charging drug discovery and development.
As Genomics scales and accelerates its business, Deloitte and AWS have worked with its experts to support this solution, building on the company’s extensive human genetics experience and vision of transforming drug R&D.
Understanding our genomes can lead to better health
Human genomes are 99.9% identical. It’s the 0.1% that makes us unique.
The more we understand our genetic information and our likelihood of developing certain conditions, the more we can all do to make informed choices about our health.
That’s the thinking behind the healthcare offering of the TechBio company Genomics, whose sophisticated tools can analyse hundreds of thousands of genetic variants to assess a person’s risk of developing common chronic conditions. Its Health Insights tests can be accessed in the UK through partnerships with private healthcare providers, such as BUPA.
“By giving people and their doctors specific information about the particular health risks they face, they can take action at the right time to help prevent disease,” says Genomics cofounder and CEO, Sir Peter Donnelly, “or catch it early when outcomes are much better.”
“We are proud that a growing number of drug targets found using our Mystra platform are in today’s pharmaceutical R&D pipelines, powering tomorrow’s medicine for the patients of today.”
Alex Eavis, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Genomics
Longer, healthier lives
Polygenic risk testing is just one part of Genomics’ work towards its mission to help people live longer, healthier lives.
Combining and harmonising proprietary data, generated by its scientists, with trillions of wider data points gathered over years from genome-wide association studies and wider “omics” research – disciplines in the study of biological molecules – has meant Genomics has the biggest genotype-phenotype database in the world.
“Genomics is at the cutting edge of science. As it becomes an increasingly valuable partner for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies around the world, the potential for its data and expertise to transform drug R&D is huge,” says Deloitte partner Colin Terry.
Genomics’ new Mystra platform enables scientists to fully embed genetic insights into their drug discovery and development work.
“95% of clinical trials fail, pushing the average total cost of bringing a new drug to market beyond $2.4 billion,” says Genomics President, Dave Thornton.
“This can now change - drugs supported by human genetic evidence are 2.6 times more likely to succeed.
“Developed by our pioneering geneticists and used by world-leading scientists for over a decade, we can accelerate time-to-insight and time to clinical value, powering decisions with the highest confidence, using robust data and proven analytical tools.”
Bringing this information and analytical capability together at scale, aligning with the research and development processes of life sciences companies, has the potential to make a huge impact on health outcomes.
Research that used to take months to complete can now be done in minutes, with the aim of discovering and developing treatments that are more effective, safer and tailored to individual needs.
More than an upgrade
Genomics has worked with Deloitte and AWS to widen this offering from a fully managed technology-enabled service to a supported or entirely self-service multi-omics platform.
In other words, making Mystra directly accessible to established human genetics teams, developing new treatments, to increase those teams’ quality and productivity.
“Being fully in the cloud gives Genomics a more scalable environment in which to grow,” says James Roden, a director at Deloitte.
Conducting Voice of the Customer research with major biopharmaceutical organisations enabled Deloitte to collect over 150 requirements to ensure the platform met the specific needs of the target market for Genomics’ product.
Important issues like data security, storage capacity, processing speeds and the complexity of deriving valuable insights from a huge and intricate data set were among the biggest considerations when creating the platform.
The collaboration ensured the Genomics’ IT infrastructure was secure, scalable and aligned with customer requirements and marked trends. The work included creating a rapid migration plan to move the company’s on-premises data centres to the cloud, reducing operational risk and identifying ways to optimise costs.
With exciting, ambitious plans for the future, we’re looking forward to seeing the positive impact the company’s innovations have on people’s health, all over the world.
Ultimately, scaling its business and widening access to its tools will enable Genomics to remain at the forefront of drug discovery and development and preventative healthcare, enabling more people to live longer, healthier lives.
