Strategic Alliance Magazine Q2 2017 - 20

to partner with application providers to build compelling
consumer genetic applications that don't scare away consumers with their privacy concerns."
He then predicted a sea change in healthcare resulting
from sequencing's impact on medical procedures and protocols, and provided the following examples of potential
changes in the works:

the life science side, investors want to see proof of
freedom to operate because they know there will be a
lot of litigation," he added. "Another difference is that
in the tech world new products usually come from
steadily evolving technologies, such as silicon chip
manufacturing; in the life science world, new products
are often snapshots of lab science that has just been
developed-that makes product development a much
greater challenge."

n Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT): A simple
blood test replaced a very invasive test-amniocentesis-for fetal genetics involving a long needle inserted
into the abdomen to take fetal amniotic fluid. NIPT,
which has been very widely adopted, relies on the
fact that the mother's blood contains some fetal
DNA, so by sequencing a simple blood sample from
the mother it is possible to simply and inexpensively
test fetal genetic health. "There's been an extraordinary market response ... and more payers are
paying for this procedure. In Holland, where there is
a single-payer system, everyone pregnant gets NIPT,
and it has also taken off in China."
n Liquid Biopsy: The potential is to replace existing
"hit or miss" cancer detection methods such as colonoscopies with a simple annual screening blood test.
"We know it works for measuring cancer re-occurrence, but it's not proven as a screening test yet."

So how do we bring life science, technology, and government together to maximize the capabilities of sequencing?
he asked the audience.
"On the clinical side, it's really about providing stability, repeatability, quality, good service, regulatory
compliance-and they don't want a half-finished product. This is a challenge for a company like Illumina where
the traditional research customer just wants cutting-edge
technology, not a complete sample-to-answer solution," he
explained.

"The life science side is a lot more litigious. Investors
on the tech side want to see your patent portfolio. On
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE MAGAZINE | Q2 * 2017

Dickinson said his passion for life-saving technologies
was sparked at a young age by the loss of his sister to
cancer-and that he has discovered, for instance, that
in forming government alliances, the personal experience of politicians can play a major role. After former
British Prime Minister David Cameron lost his first
child to a genetic disease, Britain invested heavily in
genetic sequencing. "Another fascinating project is
Joe Biden's 'cancer moonshot' initiative. He lost his son
two years ago to cancer. ... He got it funded at around
$3 billion, and around $2 billion for Obama's precision
medicine initiative. The program's executive director
is himself a cancer survivor."
As the global standard of living improves, countries are
starting to invest more in healthcare. For example China is
putting $10 billion into sequencing for precision medicine,
he said. As it becomes more pervasive, genetic sequencing
raises significant scientific and ethical concerns, especially as gene editing applications emerge. But over both the
short and long term, "it will be a great source of wealth and
wellbeing," Dickinson concluded. n

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Strategic Alliance Magazine Q2 2017