Brazilian biotech gen-t has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with the pharmaceutical company Regeneron to generate genomic data from the Brazilian population, increasing the diversity of genomic data available for R&D and promoting the inclusion of our population in precision medicine.

Created in 2021, gen-t is building a pioneering platform that unites genomic and health data in order to maximize its value for research and innovation, with a view to including the Brazilian population in precision medicine and fostering research and innovation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry based on our genomic diversity.

The company’s goal is to recruit 200,000 volunteers from different regions of the country over four years, who will share their health and behavioral data and donate blood for plasma storage and DNA sequencing.

In the first half of this year, the company carried out a pilot project in the cosmetics area. The work consisted of collecting phenotypes of interest to the client and carrying out genomic analysis to identify important associations between genes and phenotypes.

In August this year, when it reached 10,000 participants, gen-t opened up to partnerships with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Hence the partnership with Regeneron.

“Brazil’s genetic diversity is unique in the world, and this puts the country in a privileged position to contribute to scientific discoveries about human health and the development of new medicines,” says Lygia V. Pereira, founder and CEO of gen-t.

Lygia da Veiga Pereira has a PhD in human genetics from Mount Sinai Graduate School in New York and is a full professor of human genetics at USP. Her team includes other renowned geneticist consultants, such as Tábita Hünemeier, who has a PhD in population genetics and is also a professor at USP, and Alexandre Pereira, a cardiologist and geneticist who is a visiting professor at Harvard.

Genomic data scenario

Currently, the existing genomic databases do not represent the world population, and are predominantly from populations of European ancestry. Only 2% are African and 1% Hispanic or Latin American. This lack of diversity leads to inequalities in medical advances and lost opportunities in health research and innovation.

With more than 210 million people, Brazil has 500 years of miscegenation of indigenous, African and European populations, and the largest population of African descent outside Africa, offering unparalleled diversity for research and innovation in the area of health.

Investors

Since it was founded, gen-t has already received R$18 million (US$3.6 million) in investments. The contributions came from pharmaceutical companies Eurofarma and Roivant Sciences, Brazilian businessman and former Central Bank president Armínio Fraga, and investors Eduardo Mufarej, founder of GK Ventures, and Daniel Gold.