As a key step toward providing patients with treatments based on their own DNA profiles, the University of Michigan and the International Genomics Consortium (IGC) have launched a new joint venture that will help usher in an age of personalized medicine.
Called Paradigm, the new nonprofit company brings together the expertise of the U-M Health System and IGC, two leaders in using genetic information to understand and treat disease.
Beginning with cancer, and then extending into other disease groups, Paradigm will offer doctors and health care organizations anywhere access to whole gene and multi-gene sequencing and molecular diagnostics.
The company will also help support clinical trials at UMHS and other health systems.
Paradigm complements other DNA services offered by UMHS, including the MLabs reference laboratory, and the research-oriented DNA Sequencing Core. Paradigm is being formed under the Michigan Health Corporation, the part of UMHS that enables outside partnerships.
The company will be based in Ann Arbor, with additional operations at IGC headquarters in Phoenix.
"We're thrilled to take this important step that allows us to harness the power of genetic information to guide patient therapy and improve outcomes," says Jay Hess, M.D. Ph.D., M.H.S.A., chair of the Department of Pathology at the U-M Medical School and a co-founder of Paradigm. "IGC has a proven track record of bringing molecular diagnostics to market, yet shares our nonprofit patient-focused vision."