Dr Abasi Ene-Obong - Afrikan Heroes

54gene Launches Trust to Amplify Africa’s Capacity in Scientific Research

July 23, 2021

54gene founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Abasi Ene-Obong

Leading health tech startup, 54gene has launched a trust that sets to reinvest 5% of proceeds from commercial drug discovery programs on African scientists and communities while further empowering skills development and training and improving healthcare delivery across the African continent. The health tech company which centers on advancing the field of African genomics to unlock scientific discoveries as well as improve diagnostic and treatment outcomes within Africa and the global community hopes the trust will help push Africa’s contributions to the health industry to the global front burner.

Being part of the company’s commitment to Africa in establishing a more sustainable and thriving cyclical ecosystem across Africa’s scientific development space, the trust will also ensure a better quality healthcare delivery for the communities in which the company operates.

54gene is focused on creating a pipeline of novel drugs for global populations, based on insights drawn from the healthcare and research ecosystem in Africa and wants to ensure that the 1.5 billion people in Africa benefit from its endeavors.

While ensuring Ethical, Legal, Social Implication (ELSI) guidelines are rigorously followed, 54gene is focused on advancing better health outcomes for global populations through precision medicine and addressing the unmet need for novel therapeutics in healthcare.

The company has created a proprietary platform that powers drug discovery through its substantial bio- and data-repository of deeply-phenotyped and diverse datasets. It has the potential to power understanding across multiple disease areas such as cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, sickle cell, autoimmune and rare diseases, and infectious diseases.

The new trust has been designed to enable a consistent provision of better diagnostics and medicines for Africans as well as amplifying capacity building within the scientific research space across Africa.

Dr Abasi Ene-Obong, Founder & CEO of 54gene said that “The biggest challenge in drug discovery in Africa is adequate infrastructure and the extensive need for capacity building.

As we work on delivering on our promise of precision medicine for Africans and the global population, we are striving to ensure that our work involves current African scientists and leaders in the field as well as supports the creation of more skilled Africans in science and additional jobs across the continent.

“This initiative is designed to continue fostering partnerships within the African scientific body, to reflect the leadership of Africans in global drug discovery research, and to generate sustainable healthcare delivery systems that will ultimately benefit African communities participating in the scientific work that advances better outcomes for all.

It is the inclusion of African talent that will make our drug discovery work successful in bridging the disparity gap within genomics data. Africa has the ability to contribute far beyond the 1% in global drug discovery that is currently taking place within the continent, and we believe 54gene will help accelerate those contributions.“

The 54gene trust will be managed by an advisory committee. As the company’s commercial operations grow, the demonstrated Commitment to Africa and creation of the trust will ensure an African footprint and sustainable growth in global drug discovery across the continent.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

54gene Unveils World-Class Research Laboratory in Lagos

January 27, 2021

Nigeria’s leading medical research startup, 54gene has completed its world class scientific research laboratory with the capacity of carrying out entire human genome sequencing and a variety of other scientific investigations. The laboratory which is located in Lagos State, Nigeria is flagship scientific research centre of 54gene which was launched in 2019, 54gene is a research, services and development company that utilises human genetic data from diverse African populations to improve the development, availability and efficacy of medical products that will prove beneficial to Africans and the wider global population.

It could be recalled that 54gene raised a US$15 million Series A round last year to help it scale operations and launch new initiatives, of which there have since been plenty (see here, here, here, here and here), and it has now unveiled its new lab.

Hosting a suite of world-class molecular genomics capabilities, including the Illumina Novaseq 6000 and NextSeq 550Dx the lab is part of 54gene’s mission to enable Africans to conduct genomics research, and will be fully operational from this month. It is geared to crucially expedite internal and external research projects designed to facilitate precision medicine for Africans and the global population.

The startup is currently conducting research to discover novel biological insights based on genetic modifiers, by deriving information from its unique and rich data set. This will allow the company’s researchers to determine the underlying drivers of infectious and noncommunicable diseases prevalent on the African continent as well as genetic variants unique to its population. The new lab strengthens 54gene’s capacity to enable more research that yields insights from the world’s most diverse populations to solve some of the biggest global healthcare challenges.

Speaking on the mission of the company, its founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Abasi Ene-Obong said that over the last two years, 54gene’s growth has been underpinned by a supremely experienced world class team, and the collaboration of key stakeholders on the continent. “I am proud of the impact our work is making scientifically and economically on the African continent and globally; and the many scientists around the world, who collaborate with 54gene.”

“Our vision is not just to address the health disparities in Africa but to distinctly advance research in some of the most common and rare diseases that affect the global population. To do this we need to scale our operations and continue to collaborate on cutting edge research. The possibilities are immense and we look forward to expanding this impact even more.”