Illumina CEO Warns Against Building Bias Into Gene Therapies

(Bloomberg) -- Gene-based therapies could skew to a subset of the global population unless businesses and governments work harder to collect enough gene data from more backgrounds and communities, according to Francis deSouza, the chief executive officer of Illumina Inc.

“Over 70% of the genomes we have today are Caucasian genomes. What that means is, as we’re developing therapies, we’re developing therapies that are more attuned to Caucasian genomes,” deSouza said on Thursday at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. “And unless we distribute this more globally, we’re systemically building that bias into our medicine for the future.”

Since gene therapies are targeted treatments that learn from genetic data, collecting more genomes from other populations would be key, deSouza said. Illumina is a company that offers services on genetic sequencing and analysis. 

“We need more Asian genomes, we need more African genomes. We need to take that challenge on as companies in the space, as countries in this space, and make sure we’re getting the technology out,” he added. 

The New Economy Forum is being organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.