Genomics partnership to advance precision public health

BGI Genomics and Pryzm Health have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate in order to advance precision public health in Australia.

Pryzm is a digital health start-up focused on guiding personal and clinical health decisions by accelerating diagnosis of rare and inherited diseases. The collaboration with BGI Genomics aims to improve the utility of cost-effective genomic testing for the clinic and lower the barriers for access to precision health care in Australia by harnessing the complementary technologies of BGI Genomics in genomics and Pryzm in the integration and analytics of genomic information and electronic health data.

“Despite the well-known benefits of genomics to improve patient outcomes, access to genomic information in health care remains limited,” said Pryzm co-founder Dr Marcel Dinger. “This partnership will pave the way to make this transformational technology and information available to all those that need it — particularly those affected by rare or undiagnosed conditions.”

“One of the key limitations in realising the value of genomic data in both research and clinical practice is access to structured and high-quality phenotypic data,” added Pryzm co-founder Dr Tudor Groza. “Pryzm’s core capabilities of acquiring and classifying clinical features and symptoms will meet a critical need for accelerating routine use of genomic data in healthcare settings. Our expertise will also ensure the privacy and security of health data.”

In Australia, the use of genetic information in mainstream health practice is gaining support from the government, industry and scientific and clinical communities. Last year, the Australian Government announced a 10-year, $500 million fund to advance the use of genomics in health.

“Australia has a world-class health system, and significant capability in genomics research and in the application of genomics data in clinical practice,” said Dr Ning Li, Chief Development Officer of BGI Genomics.

“Pryzm and BGI Genomics are a perfect match with our complementary skills in population-scale genome sequencing. We are thrilled to join forces with Pryzm and to explore the combined power of genomics and phenomics with Pryzm to improve patient outcomes and enhance public health.”

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