NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) has tapped WuXi Nextcode to develop informatics solutions for studying cardiovascular disease in patients in Singapore and Southeast Asia
Under the terms of the agreement, WuXi Nextcode will develop a cloud-based data warehouse that will integrate whole-genome sequence, medical, and wearables data from patients with cardiovascular disease and from healthy controls who have been recruited by the NHCS.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
According to the partners, the planned resource will support research into genetic risk factors for heart disease in Singapore and in Southeast Asian populations more broadly. It will also help scientists generate clinical reports that offer actionable insights on different types of genetic risk, carrier status, and drug response.
NHCS asked WuXi Nextcode to develop the platform following a competitive review of global genomics platforms. "We believe that the scientific and technical expertise that WuXi Nextcode provides will enable us to integrate precision medicine into clinical care and medical research," Yeo Khung Keong, an associated professor and senior consultant in NHCS' cardiology department, said in a statement.
For Wuxi Nextcode, the partnership offers "a unique opportunity to advance our technology in new ways to benefit patients and people here and across the region," Chief Operating Officer Hannes Smarason added.
The cardiovascular study is a pilot project of a national precision medicine initiative led by the NHCS, SingHealth Duke-NUS PRISM, and the IMDA. The partners are also considering expanding the planned cloud platform to include support for other disease types as well.