A new initiative to increase Black participation in genomic research has been launched by one of the oldest and largest historically Black academic health sciences centers in the U.S. in partnership with four pharmaceutical companies. One of the project’s aims is to build the world’s largest African ancestry genomics research database with 500,000 volunteer participants.

Meharry Medical College, Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC), AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and Roche have teamed to create the Together for CHANGE (“Changing Healthcare for People of African Ancestry through an International Genomics & Equity”) initiative.

“People of African ancestry have been underrepresented in genomics studies, which leads to clinical genetic testing that has less reference data and less confident testing results,” said Aris Baras, MD, senior vice president, Regeneron, and head of Regeneron Genetics Center. 

The big pharmas have said they will make contributions worth $20 million during the initiative. Regeneron Genetics Center will undertake and fund the sequencing of genetic samples.

It is well documented that the representation of Black people in genomics databases is woeful and distorts medical treatment. Recent research, for example, showed that men of sub-saharan origin have a much higher risk of prostate cancer but distinctive biomarkers of the disease.

“As part of our contribution to the consortium and as a component of our ongoing African Genomics Program, Roche will be leading efforts to collect up to 20,000 samples and related phenotype data from diverse regions of Africa,” said James Sabry, global head of pharma partnering, Roche.

You can read more in an article in the insideprecisionmedicine web site at: https://tinyurl.com/mssz8f4j.