India accounts for one third of all rare diseases globally, with roughly one in 20 individuals affected by a rare disorder¹. At the same time, rates of non-communicable diseases are also rising at a rapid rate due to changes in lifestyle and increasing urbanisation.

Genetic testing is a powerful tool to identify gene alterations that lead to these rare diseases, allowing patients to take pre-emptive action. It is also critical to the development of more effective treatments for rare disorders. There are over 7,000 rare diseases (80% of which are genetic) and 350 million people globally that suffer from these diseases, but only a small range of new drug treatments have been approved worldwide across recent decades².

Genetic testing can also help to tailor the use of existing drugs for common ailments like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Indeed, many blockbuster drugs tend to be effective for only 30% to 50% of patients using them. In India, improving drug efficacy is vital to relieving the country’s ailing hospital system, with only 0.7 doctors per 1,000 patients³.

However, despite the revolutionary advances in healthcare delivered by genomic testing, in India and other emerging markets this powerful technology has typically been too expensive for average consumers. A lack of adequate screening and diagnostic facilities also exacerbates the challenge of providing genetic tests⁴.

As a consequence, global genomic databases have focused on developed markets like the UK and US, overlooking the diverse genomes present across South and Southeast Asia⁵. While India’s people represent 20% of the world’s population, their DNA sequences comprise under 0.2% of information in global genomic databases⁶.

MedGenome is a genetic diagnostics and research company with a focus on next generation sequencing (NGS). The company has administered over 300,000 genetic tests and served over 200,000 patients.

Founded in 2011, MedGenome has developed a model of accessibility to deliver diagnostic tests to a global standard, at a fraction of the cost of Western providers. MedGenome’s genetic testing provides insights into complex diseases to aid in research and drug discovery for oncology, diabetes, ophthalmology, cardiology, and rare diseases, as well as proving information to aid in early diagnosis and preventative treatment.

The company is the first, largest and most established genomic medicine company in India, with three business segments. It conducts research, provides NGS services for global pharmaceutical companies and academic clients, and licenses it genetic database to build drug discovery platforms.

MedGenome has a significant early mover advantage and has relationships with key specialised hospitals and physicians. To date, the company has obtained samples from over 4,000 hospitals and over 10,000 physicians across the globe. The company has developed a range of over 1,300 genetic tests for reproductive genetics, inherited disease genetics, cancer genetics and infectious disease genetics.

In 2021, MedGenome introduced a direct-to-consumer genomics product called Genessense, which provides genetic and health risk scoring, carrier screening, drug response, and ancestry data to patients. Genessense is similar to consumer genomics and direct-to-consumer diagnostics testing products like 23&Me, but offered at a fraction of the cost due to efficiencies with the scale of the company’s services.

MedGenome is leading a new health revolution in India, and most importantly, working with regional hospitals as well as clinicians to drive expansion into both Southeast Asian and African markets that have limited genomic diagnostic capabilities. This expansion will fuel further inclusivity and expand the global genomic data pool used to design and create effective therapeutics, improving the relevance of therapies for millions of emerging consumers and reducing the non-communicable disease burden.