Diagnostics

Globalized genomics: WuXi NextCODE raises $75M Series B

Investors, including Ali Baba billionaire Jack Ma, have cut a fresh check for WuXi NextCODE to the tune of $75 million. The Shanghai-based genomics specialist has a wide range of international services and new consumer products for the Chinese market.

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WuXi NextCODE, a so-called contract genomics organization (CGO), has raised $75 million in a new Series B financing round co-led by Temasek Holdings and Yunfeng Capital — a Chinese private equity firm cofounded by Ali Baba billionaire Jack Ma. Amgen Ventures and 3W Partners also contributed to the round.

According to a company statement, the Wuxi AppTec subsidiary will use the new funding to further develop its informatics technology and to invest in artificial intelligence and deep learning. It also plans to advance its consumer genomics products in China.

In an email forwarded by a company representative, WuXi NextCODE CEO Hannes Smarason said the products were the first of their kind in the region.

“Our China products give patients and consumers access to global quality genomic testing and wellness solutions that have not previously been available there,” Smarason said.

The tests include the FamilyCODE and HealthCODE platforms, which apply next-generation genomics to carrier screening during pregnancy and personalized wellness.

Another sequencing-based offering, the RareCODE platform, is now rivaling rare disease tests available in the United States, Smarason said.

“This type of rare disease testing is used when a child has a disease that doctors cannot diagnose accurately through standard examination,” he said. “It was not available in China before we launched RareCODE last year. Demand has grown so quickly that it is now on par with those offered by the leading institutions that do this kind of testing in the U.S., which is testament to the unmet need.”

To say those direct-to-consumer offerings have been a long time in the making would be a major understatement.

WuXi NextCODE’s roots trace back to one of the earliest large-scale genomics initiatives, deCODE Genetics, which kicked off in Iceland in 1996. Widely considered to be the “birthplace of genomics,” deCODE amassed a library of medical and hereditary information from the local population. Yet it struggled financially.

In 2010, deCODE filed for bankruptcy, ultimately receiving a $14 million bailout from prior investors Polaris Partners and ARCH Venture Partners. It was a solid investment. DeCODE was acquired by Amgen several years later for $415 million.

Amgen went on to form NextCODE Health, a spinout of deCODE that used the established data architecture and the associated query tools and language to link disease-causing variants to phenotypes around the world.

Finally, in 2015 WuXi PharmaTech acquired NextCODE for $65 million. The new entity was merged with WuXi’s Genome Center, forming a new company to be named WuXi NextCODE. Over the last two years, it has run large-scale genomics studies in the United States, China, Qatar, Ireland, Singapore, and more.

The rise of the global enterprise is music to the ears of researchers concerned with a lack of diversity in genomic databases.

Until now, large-scale research has –  often unintentionally – centered around Caucasian populations. A seminal 2009 study found that 96 percent of participants in genome-wide association studies were of European descent.

Smarason is optimistic that the WuXi NextCODE can make a difference, working through its headquarters in Shanghai, China, and its secondary offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Reykjavik, Iceland.

“This is a real problem and one we feel we are already having an impact in addressing,” Smarason said. “Our core mission and business plan are global and therefore ethnic diversity is very much our focus. We are uniquely present in population scale projects on four continents and our significant presence and focus on China is a further testament to that. At the same time, our knowledge base contains the world’s most comprehensive collection of reference datasets from around the world, all in one format and immediately accessible to any of our users from any interface in our system. With the ability to touch all of that data on a daily basis, we aim to contribute a great deal to understanding the differences in disease-linked variation from across populations and to make that diversity of data available across the global clinical and research community.”

This article was updated at 5:30 pm E.T. to include quotes from WuXi NextCODE’s CEO.

Photo: Filograph, Getty Images

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