State’s genomics push continues
It was with plenty of fanfare across the pond this week that the Danbury health data giant IQVIA revealed a $25 million investment in an initiative to boost genomic-related research in the United Kingdom.
As for IQVIA’s backyard? The money continues to trickle into startups focused on the emerging field, more than four years after the state established a beachhead with a $1.1 billion genomics lab in Farmington.
If genomics is a sector brought into reach of the masses with the success of the personal DNA testing provider 23andMe, it is the potential to help people alleviate or avoid ailments that offers the most tantalizing prospect for the emerging science.
The field of genomics has progressed rapidly from gene mapping and sequencing technologies pioneered by Guilford resident Jonathan Rothberg, a 2013 winner of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, to the emergence today of Crispr technology, which allows scientists to “edit” genes.
With the revelation last month of a Chinese scientist’s claim of producing a “gene-edited” baby, the ethical considerations of gene-editing is at the forefront anew, even as venture funding pours into the sector.
In 2012, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy put genomics at the forefront of Connecticut’s economic development policy efforts, committing $300 million in incentives to spur the creation of the Jackson Laboratory for Genomics Medicine in Farmington, as a collaboration between the Mainebased nonprofit Jackson Lab, the University of Connecticut and Yale University. The state separately issued bonds supporting a $200 million Bioscience Innovation Fund.
Early indications are that it has been a coup for Malloy, given the concentration of senior Jackson Lab scientists and the possibilities inherent in genomics medicine. A promise that exceeds even the potential of Charter Communications’ headquarters relocation in 2012 to Stamford from St. Louis; and NBC Sports moving its studio operations to Stamford that same year.
As of July, Jackson Lab employed 385 people in
Farmington with Malloy stating expectations its workforce would swell to nearly double that number, well beyond original employment projections of 660 jobs. Under those original projections, the state projected Jackson Lab as spurring the creation of an additional 4,000 positions, through the creation of spin-off research efforts and startups.
Jackson Lab produced revenue of $331 million in 2016, a 9 percent increase, with the nonprofit running at $30.5 million surplus for the year pushing its assets to $633 million.
The original Connecticut deal included a Jackson Lab that awards the statebacked Connecticut Innovations venture fund 10 percent of any royalties as a result of rights awarded Jackson Lab, and half of royalty streams topping $3 million. For the fiscal year
ending in June 2017, Connecticut Innovations did not collect any royalties under the arrangement.
Skin disease, asthma
But startup activities are beginning to coalesce. This year in collaboration with Jackson Lab, Connecticut Innovations refined further its funding streams with a Connecticut Microbiome Initiative to back the commercialization of emerging technologies related to microbiomes, the genes inside the tiniest organisms in the body that ward off germs or produce energy among other functions.
Jackson Lab is now collaborating with the Yale spinout Azitra in Farmington, which has raised more than $5 million from Connecticut Innovations and venture funds as it develops microbiome-based techniques and molecular genetics to address skin ailments.
Last April outside the orbit of Jackson Lab, Malloy made official the relocation to Stamford of Mount Sinai hospital’s Sema4 genomic testing venture, with Sema4 expected to employ 400 people there. This week, Sema4 indicated a possible breakthrough applying genomics to the early diagnosis of asthma, with the ailment killing thousands of people each year according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and costing more than $50 billion.
For the curious wanting to discover more about Jackson Lab, monthly public tours of the Farmington facility are available. Capacity is limited to groups of 15 on a first-come basis and reservations are required.
The next tour is scheduled for Wednesday. Visit jax.org for information. The organization is taking reservations via email at tours@jax.org.