SHENZHEN, China, May 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BGI Genomics and digital health start-up, Pryzm Health (Pryzm), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today for collaboration to advance precision public health in Australia.
With their complementary expertise and technology, BGI Genomics and Pryzm will develop foundational capabilities to drive equitable access to precision medicine approaches across the health system. This movement, termed precision public health, will enable more rapid diagnoses, improved efficiency, better patient outcomes and more economically-sustainable health practices.
Pryzm is an innovative 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 healthcare in Australia by harnessing the synergy between the complementary technologies of BGI Genomics in genomics and Pryzm in the integration and analytics of genomic information and electronic health data.
"Australia has a world-class health system, and significant capability in genomics research and in the application of genomics data in clinical practice. The Pryzm team has world-recognized capabilities in genome analytics and phenomics. 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," said Dr Ning Li, Chief Development officer of BGI Genomics.
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 AUD 500M fund to advance the use of genomics in health.
"Despite the well-known benefits of genomics to improve patient outcomes, access to genomic information in healthcare remains limited. 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," said Pryzm's co-Founder, Dr Marcel Dinger.
"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. 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," added Pryzm co-founder, Dr Tudor Groza.
BGI Genomics
BGI Genomics, a subsidiary of BGI, provides a wide range of next generation sequencing services and a broad portfolio of genetic tests for medical institutions, research institutions and other public and private partners. BGI's mission is to leverage its genomics expertise in order to advance life science research and improve human health for the benefit of mankind. BGI is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, with branches and medical laboratories in major cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Shanghai and Guangzhou. BGI also has offices and laboratories located in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region. BGI currently operates in more than 100 countries and regions and works with more than 3,000 medical institutions and more than 300 hospitals.
Pryzm Health
Pryzm is a digital health company focused on identifying and accelerating patient diagnosis, particularly of rare and inherited diseases. Pryzm fulfils its mission by developing secure and clinically-compliant software to support phenotyping and phenotype analysis to serve patients and the healthcare industry.
