Sir Peter Donnelly is co-founder and CEO of Genomics.
“[We] are united by a single vision: help people live longer, healthier lives through the power of genomics.
That’s what Genomics founder and CEO Sir Peter Donnelly told me about his company in a recent interview. He further described Genomics as a science-driven company that “uses genetic information at scale to develop innovative healthcare tools and bring new meaning to drug discovery for partners across the industry of healthcare, insurance, employers and life sciences”. The company, founded in 2014 with offices in Oxford, Cambridge, London and Cambridge, Massachusetts, partners with what Sir Donnelly described as “some of the world’s leading organisations” in a bid to help them “anticipate, prevent, treat and cure disease using our proprietary algorithms and databases.” The work Genomics does, he added, goes a long way toward “reducing the human and financial cost of critical diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.”
“We [at Genomics] I believe genomics should be at the heart of every health service worldwide,” Sir Donnelly said of his company. the reason for existence. “[We believe] will be the key to personalized healthcare of the future. We are a rapidly growing and expanding organization.”
Sir Donnelly explained these sentiments, telling me that he believes the potential impact of genomics science and technology is profound and “enormous”. One of his goals was to share his company’s innovations with partners who would be willing to join Genomics in its mission to “help people live healthier lives, as quickly as possible.” Genomics, Sir Donnelly said, works with companies across industries such as healthcare and insurers to deliver better care. In particular, Genomics works with the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.
“We are helping to create new opportunities in health, healthcare and drug discovery, transforming people’s health and lives with the power of genomic prediction,” said Sir Donnelly. “Our mission is to help everyone make smart, proactive decisions to live healthier lives—making individuals co-pilots instead of passengers on their individual health journey.”
This column has seen a fair amount of coverage over time at the intersection of disability, technology, and healthcare. The reason for this is clear and simple: more than any other group, people with disabilities often need the most health care to support themselves. As I’ve written about the modern wonder known as the Internet being the basis for making medicine more accessible through channels such as Amazon Pharmacy, Sir Donnelly and Genomics are coming at access from a different angle by, as he told me by mentioning one example, working on clinical trials with the NHS to help people “match the right people to the right treatment, for better patient outcomes”. In addition, Sir Donnelly mentioned Genomics’ Insights test. It described it as offering “genetic risk testing as a safe, end-to-end solution based on a simple collection of saliva samples that can be taken at home”, which tests for diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, breast or prostate cancer. , and more. Based on the tester’s risk profile, he said, the person is given “actionable information about what to discuss with their doctor and helpful advice on setting diet, exercise and other lifestyle goals.” Especially for a person with a disability, perhaps someone with certain cognitive disabilities, this information is worth its weight in gold to help them know what to discuss with their doctor(s). Likewise, that the Insights test uses one’s smartphone means, for example, that results can be read using the system’s accessibility software.
“Because our genetic risk scores combine information from millions of sites in our DNA, they are largely unrelated to a family history of disease and most clinical risk factors. Over 70% of people are at high risk for at least one of the conditions we assess,” said Sir Donnelly. “In most cases, they will have no idea about it. Our test gives someone a chance to learn their particular risks and that they and their health care professionals take action to prevent that disease long before any symptoms become apparent.”
When asked about feedback from Genomics users, Sir Donnelly told me that the company has been “fortunate” to receive “tremendous praise” from partners and individuals. He pointed to a survey of MassMutual policyholders taking the aforementioned Insights test, saying 76% found the information gleaned from the test valuable while 61% reported forming an “improved impression” of their insurance company. .
As for the future, Sir Donnelly believes the next 5-10 years will be prosperous for genomics, helping it become “the gold standard in the insurance, life sciences and health services industries”. His company, he believes, will stay “at the forefront” of the revolution.
“By giving individuals much more accurate information about the particular health risks they face, they can take the right actions, at the right time, to help prevent disease altogether, or to catch disease in the first place.” start – when the results are much better,” Sir Donnelly. said. “We find that people often have the impression that they know what diseases they are at risk of, based on genetic factors. Through advanced genomics and PRS technology, we can know much more about an individual’s DNA and make accurate predictions about their likely health future. This puts patients in the driver’s seat of their health journey.”
