India's MedGenome pledges $10M for South Asia sequencing effort

Indian genomics-driven research and diagnostics company MedGenome announced on Feb. 12 that they would contribute $10 million towards nonprofit consortium GenomeAsia 100K as a founding member.

 
MedGenome Chief of Global Products and Services Kartik Kumaramangalam  

Bangalore-based MedGenome, whose goal is to improve global healthcare by better understanding diseases at a genetic level, said in a press release it hopes to increase the value of the consortium by building ethno-centric reference genomes of the diverse populations within South Asia.

The commitment will further assist the collection of genomic, familial and clinical data, as well as its data science capabilities and handling of big data analytics. This investment will aid efforts to better understand complex diseases like cancer, neurological and metabolic disorders, as well as rarer diseases.

"We are excited to join GenomeAsia 100K that has a unique opportunity to make an impact not just to South Asians but to healthy living globally," MedGenome's chief of global products and services, Kartik Kumaramangalam, said in a statement.

"Nearly a quarter of the world's population live in South Asia whose genetics we are only now beginning to characterize."

- here's the release