NalaGenetics' “Preventive Healthcare” Innovation and Its Potential to Revolutionize Healthcare

NalaGenetics is a startup Biotech which seeks to revolutionize healthcare through innovation in the field of genomics. Through their affordable DNA testing services, they strive to empower every individual to make the right decisions for their health. This includes providing personalized recommendations about nutritional and medication choices according to the body's genetics.

Based on the DNA test results data, NalaGenetics' services continue to be expanded. Recently their capabilities were expanded by producing a breast cancer risk prediction test called MammoReady --- rated as the most comprehensive in Southeast Asia. This is a very important innovation in the medical world, because by early detection of cancer, survivors can have a survival rate of up to 98%.

As is known, from Globocan data as quoted Ministry of Health, in 2020 the number of new cases of breast cancer was recorded at 68.858 cases (16,6%) out of a total of 396.914 new cases of cancer in Indonesia. The death toll reached more than 22 thousand people. This figure makes this disease one of the highest contributors to death in Indonesia.

Interestingly, many things can actually be explored through human DNA data. DailySocial.id had the opportunity to chat with Co-Founder & COO of NalaGenetics Astrid Irwanto, PhD.

Development of genomic solutions

NalaGenetics itself was founded by 4 founders: Levana Sani (CEO), Astrid Irwanto (COO), Alexander Lezhava, and Jianjun Liu. The four met while conducting research at the Genome Institute of Singapore, part of A*STAR.

Their adventure began when they founder doing a project in Papua partnered with the Ministry of Health in 2016 to distribute a thousand genetic test kits in 5 villages in Papua and West Papua. His testing found that 20% of leprosy patients there carried the gene responsible for a potentially fatal reaction to Dapsone (an anti-leprosy drug); This discovery ultimately helps doctors decide which patients can be safely treated with antibiotics.

Since then, they have been interested in making the service have a wider impact by collaborating with doctors, hospitals and researchers in Jakarta and Singapore. Its initial debut became even more solid when in 2018 NalaGenetics made its debut seed funding. They managed to do it proof-of-value projects together with a number of hospitals and health institutions in Indonesia and Singapore.

“Nalagenetics operates in the field preventive health from a genomics perspective. We start from providing recommendations for the right medicines for a person based on DNA (pharmacogenomics) and also the right nutrition, vitamins, minerals for a person based on their DNA (nutrigenomics). To predict a person's risk of disease, our focus is on chronic diseases. In addition to breast cancer, we will launch risk prediction tests for several other cancers, cardiovascular diseases and diseases neurodegenerative such as Parkinson's Disease. "We will adjust everything to the ethnic Asian population," explained Astrid to DailySocial.id.

According to the results of the summarized report ResearchAndMarkets, the global genomic services market share has reached $33,25 billion in 2022 and will continue to grow to $441,35 billion in 2023 (CAGR 19,4%). The impact that is increasingly felt in the biomedical and medical sectors makes genomic-based solutions increasingly accepted by the market, amidst greater public attention to health after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recommends medications and proper nutrition

There are a number of products that are currently being commercialized by NalaGenetics. First there is RxReady™, a DNA testing service to reveal consumer genetic profiles (pharmacogenomics). Pharmacogenomic tests analyze each patient's unique genetic makeup to provide personalized information about which drugs are most effective for the patient and help avoid adverse drug reactions.

The results of this test will produce a comprehensive report (around 200 pages: sample report) which contains a summary of follow-up efforts, recommendations, scientific evidence, genome information, and individual drug reports. With more than 180 medications in the NalaGenetics panel, pharmacogenomic testing can reduce the chance of adverse drug reactions by up to 24%.

"Currently we have special doctors in the NalaGenetics lab/clinic who can help provide consultations on test results [..] the number is still increasing. We also provide opportunities training to a doctor who wants to be able to read this pharmacogenomic report. So we don't want to, after the test doesn't exist follow up", but we have a service that allows patients to consult a doctor one or more times directly," explained Astrid.

Although this genomic test only needs to be done once in a lifetime, the recommendations given will continue to be updated based on the latest scientific evidence. For this reason, the report is also packaged in: mobile apps which has now been released to make it easier for users to get the latest information about the analysis of their DNA.

"Now we have also worked with RSCM to help depression patients. Usually patients will be given medication after consulting a doctor, then in about 2 weeks they will check whether the medication has an effect or not, if not, they will be given a different dose or type of medication. With pharmacogenomics, NalaGenetics brings more solutions cost-effective by recommending more appropriate drugs to patients," said Astrid.

The next service from NalaGenetics is NutriReady™, a DNA test that is carried out to help personalize the body's nutritional intake based on unique DNA. The report of the test results is approximately 24 pages (sample report), providing information such as food intolerances, what nutrients the body needs more, and personalization meal plans. From studies conducted, 67% of people achieved their health goals by knowing the body's nutrition from DNA.

Apart from that, there are a number of other products that NalaGenetics is currently selling, including:

• MammoReady™ is a DNA test that can help patients understand their risk of breast cancer, allowing them to take preventive measures to avoid undesirable outcomes in the future.
• QuickSpit™ is an RT-PCR test using saliva that aims to make PCR testing easier and more convenient for patients.
• Nala PGx Core® is a multi-gene test panel designed to analyze four important pharmacogenes (CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6 and SLCO1B1).
• Nala Clinical Decision Support™ is for mobile devices to report the to interpret genetics, built on ISO standards for product development quality, security, and confidentiality.

Grant important for biotech research

Regarding genomics, Astrid is of the opinion that technology is currently developing quite rapidly. Meanwhile, that is still a challenge awareness on the community side. So far preventive healthcare still not in great demand -- rarely has an allocation budget specifically to access this service.

To socialize preventive healthcare in Southeast Asia, especially genomic testing, good synergy between the public and private sectors is needed in various scenarios. This includes, for example, B2B partnerships with insurance players or integration with government health programs.

“We consistently do a lot awareness training to clinicians and the general public through webinar, seminars, and social media. We are also trying to expand our reach by collaborating with existing companies budget to do health screening on their staff. Hopefully we can also take part in the Health Technology Assessment from the Indonesian government in the near future so that we can start tohow much also from the government side," added Astrid.

On the other hand, developing genomic solutions also requires large costs for research. Mechanism grant (both from the government and the private sector) is one of the important ammunition to run the innovation machine. Unfortunately it was that time grant There is not much clinical research in the field of biotechnology in Indonesia.

"Grant This is very important in carrying out clinical validation of the bioinformatics technology and algorithms that we created as well as conducting pilot implementation in the clinic. "To carry out this activity requires quite a lot of samples and quite a lot of money," explained Astrid.

Then NalaGenetics collaborated with a number of research firms, including in Singapore, to gain access grant This is for research and product development needs.

"Because grant This is all from the Singapore government, our collaboration is always hand in hand key opinion leader from government clinical agencies, recruitment patients of that clinical agency, and the result is a joint publication and service launch with them. This is also closely related to the efforts of the Singapore government in the National Precision Medicine project so that this pilot became possible proof of concept for scale up on a national scale," added Astrid.

Astrid also told how the local Enterprise SG (innovation development unit under the Singapore Ministry of Trade) provided comprehensive support for the development of NalaGenetics innovation.

“From the start we were really helped, especially in terms of developing a small team. Because Enterprise SG exists grant whose name is T-UP for hired 2 talent for 2 years with a 70% subsidy, this is very helpful. Next is standards adoption grant which can take the form of additional certifications such as ISO 13485 and ISO 27001 which give our credibility to clients and also open access to market other."

He continued, “We also get it market access grant to Europe, USA as well as programs immersion to Australia and China thanks to availability grant from Enterprise SG too. Additionally we were given access to venture capital who work with them as well as opportunities to collaborate with partners private nor government. All of this really helps product and business development at NalaGenetics.”

Supporting genomic innovation in Indonesia

NalaGenetics was founded by Rank founder with solid enough experience to produce innovation. Astrid herself achieved a doctoral degree in Human Genetics at NUS. He worked at several research firms that were close to the world of biomedicine.

"Have co-founding solid with complementary skills that's very important. There is a sophisticated innovation that is useful for society, but if the scientist has to advance the technology itself, it will be very difficult. NalaGenetics was able to be born because there are 4 people on our team with complementary abilities, including our CEO Levana Sani who has a background in science and also business, which helps mature the business model and fundraising," explained Astrid.

He continued, “Then Dr. Liu Jianjun co-founder & advisor we are currently the Executive Director of the Genome Institute of Singapore who understands the genomics landscape, connections with key opinion leader and B2G partnerships. And finally Dr. Alexander Lezhava who also is co-founder & advisor we understand how to make it in vitro diagnostic kit as well as providing clinical testing services.”

Currently, NalaGenetics is also supported by 50 staff in Indonesia and 25 staff in Singapore. About half of them are R&D teams.

This solidarity and in-depth understanding of genomics also ultimately wants to be brought deeper into Indonesia. In mid-October 2023, together with one of its main investors, East Ventures, NalaGenetics announced its commitment to support the analysis of genomic samples at the Biomedical and Genome Science Initiative (BGSi).

NalaGenetics will collaborate with BGSi by transferring knowledge and expertise in conducting sequencing. This collaboration is expected to create new product innovations based on local genetic data to exploit the potential of Indonesian population genomic data.

On the other hand, currently NalaGenetics is also continuing to expand its clinic coverage and collaborate with the health ecosystem in Indonesia to further popularize these genomic-based solutions. Most recently, they will soon inaugurate a clinic in the Fatmawati area, Jakarta to provide access to DNA testing and comprehensive consultation services to the public.

“DNA testing can be done anywhere. But what NalaGenetics develops is the algorithm, this is what we sell to labs/clinics. This algorithm allows us to get complete analysis results from the DNA test [..] In the future we will also continue to deepen cooperation with the Ministry of Health in Indonesia so that preventive healthcare "This is becoming more affordable for our society," said Astrid.

Apart from Indonesia and Singapore, NalaGenetics is also committed to reaching regional markets. These ambitions are conveyed as they gain series A funding last March 2022. The fresh funds obtained will be maximized for expansion, with the next destination country being Malaysia. This effort is amidst the momentum of very fast growth in the genetic testing market in the Asian region.