The project will analyse risks from Sano Genetics’ data from 3,000 UK adults suffering from long COVID
PrecisionLife has announced a partnership with Sano Genetics – a genetic research platform enabling patients to participate in ethical research projects. It is hoped that the move will accelerate the understanding of long-term COVID-19 impacts.
The project will analyse Sano Genetics’ data from 3,000 UK adults suffering from long COVID symptoms, using PrecisionLife’s proprietary combinatorial analytics platform to identify risk-factors and potential drug targets.
It is estimated that 5-30% of COVID-19 patients will go on to have long-term complications and – with over 500 million people worldwide confirmed as having been infected – the need for better diagnostics and treatments is of utmost importance.
Under the terms of the collaboration, Sano Genetics will provide access to its long COVID patient population dataset to PrecisionLife for analysis.
Dr Patrick Short, CEO and co-founder of Sano Genetics, said: “Learning to live with COVID-19 and manage its health consequences has long term public health and economic implications. An estimated 1.7 million people in the UK have reported experiences of long COVID, with symptoms lasting longer than four weeks.
“Understanding how our genetics influence our response to COVID-19 is key to better protecting vulnerable people and developing effective treatments. PrecisionLife’s analysis of Sano Genetics’ data will enable this deep biological understanding.”
Dr Steve Gardner, CEO of PrecisionLife, explained: “Long COVID is a major public health issue. Most sufferers have no clear path for engaging with the healthcare system, as diagnosis is uncertain and the complex symptoms and causes of the disease are not yet fully understood. In our 2020 study, we noted a range of cardiovascular, immunological and neurological changes in COVID-19 patients, and want to understand whether these are transient or permanent.
“We are confident that this study into the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, working in partnership with Sano Genetics, will deliver valuable insights to enable a better understanding of long COVID vulnerabilities and ultimately ensure that personalised treatments are directed towards those patients that need them most,” he added.
