Genomics biotech Anuva, formerly Global Gene Corp, has entered into a global strategic partnership with US-based population genomics and viral surveillance company Helix. The Mumbai-based start-up will generate new health and disease knowledge directly applicable to treatments for diverse under-represented populations. It will also advance drug discovery by identifying novel targets and pathways to improve health.

The translational research company has also raised around $15.5 to $20 million in its Series A round from Helix. The round, a mix of cash and kind, valued the start-up at around $150 million. 

Anuva's partnership with Helix will allow the company to leverage the latter's expertise in sequencing technology and translational research. Helix's proprietary Exome+ assay will provide the genomics start-up with higher coverage on clinically relevant genes and a whole genome backbone enabling tens of millions of imputed variants and the complete mitochondrial genome. 

Anuva's proprietary Genomic Bio / Data Bank incorporates genomic data, deeply phenotyped participants and a biorepository from diverse Asian sub-populations. Combining its offerings with Helix's knowledge, the translational research company will try to create Asia's largest multi-population dataset.

Abhishek Kumar, director at Anuva, said, "We are excited to partner with Helix as their expertise in genomics sequencing for large-scale populations. This, together with our recent closure of series A funding, will allow us to accelerate our plans to create the most diverse genomic bio/data bank much quicker than ever before."

"Anuva is doing great work to close the critical data diversity gap in genomics for drug discovery," added Daniel Lee, senior vice president of Life Sciences and Growth at Helix. "We're thrilled to be able to provide Anuva access to our whole exome assay as they enter their next stage of growth."

Rapid development in technology to study genomics is disrupting the entire healthcare sector as the focus turns to provide personalised healthcare with a high degree of effectiveness compared to the current methods. As technology evolves, business models and industry partnerships will need to adapt to bring the full potential of genomics to the global population. 

Anuva's creation of the previously unavailable dataset will empower drug discovery researchers to explore human health more than ever before. This new understanding will enable the discovery of novel biological targets and pathways that inform the development of treatments and identify who would benefit most from them.

The pharma industry can utilise Anuva's diverse genomic bio/data bank of Asian populations for research and development. Additionally, its cohorts and biorepository allow for follow-on clinical and translational studies, which empower drug development opportunities.