NEW YORK – Ghanaian cancer diagnostics firm Yemaachi Biotech said Tuesday that it has partnered with Roche to launch an initiative to develop a cancer genomic database for African populations.
The initiative, called The African Cancer Atlas (TACA), aims to gather genomic and clinical data from up to 7,500 African cancer patients and an equal number of paired normal genomes to identify cancer biomarkers and therapeutic targets that can help address disparities in cancer outcomes related to the underrepresentation of Africans in most genome-wide association studies.
Yaw Bediako, CEO and founder of Yemaachi, said via email that TACA is related to another pan-African effort called the African Clinical Research Network (AfriCaN), which Yemaachi launched in conjunction with 23 other African institutions in 2023.
"The clinical partners [in AfriCaN] are key stakeholders in TACA," Bediako said.
Roche will support TACA with funding and technical input, although Bediako said that he could not disclose the amount of funding at this time.
Although currently consisting of Yemaachi and Roche, Yemaachi hopes to establish a broader consortium by bringing in more pharmaceutical partners.
"We are actively engaged in discussions with a number of pharma companies in connection with joining the consortium and are working closely with Roche on this," Bediako said.
"By partnering with Yemaachi as the consortium's first member we hope to leverage Africa's genomic diversity in order to facilitate and accelerate healthcare for cancer patients in Africa and beyond," Lisa Slater, head of Roche's African Genomics Program, said in a statement. "This partnership underlines our mission to foster sustainable and equitable collaboration with researchers and institutions, helping to build infrastructure, expertise, and capabilities that accelerate genomic research on the continent."