ADVERTISEMENT

World Must Leverage Genomics to Fight Pandemics, Illumina CEO Says

Two years into the pandemic, the world still lacks a unified effort to detect and fight future outbreaks using genetic tools.

World Must Leverage Genomics to Fight Pandemics, Illumina CEO Says
A model of human DNA is silhouetted. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News)

Two years into the pandemic that has killed millions and shaken the global economy, the world still lacks a unified effort to detect and fight future outbreaks using genetic tools, said Illumina Inc. Chief Executive Officer Francis deSouza.

“We’re nowhere near where we need to be ultimately in terms of leveraging genomics to fight pandemics,” deSouza said Tuesday in an interview. “What we need is a global system that is looking for the emergence of either new coronaviruses or antimicrobial resistance or even a bioterrorist attack.” 

In past epidemics, Illumina would send its machines to places like the Congo during Ebola outbreaks to do sequencing in local populations and identify the pathogen causing the issue. Where the crisis -- and the sequencing of variants -- would typically subside after such flares, now the frequent emergence of new pathogens requires ongoing attention, deSouza said.

While the U.K. stands out for quickly building a system to sequence virus samples and identify new variants, a concept that didn’t exist before this pandemic, few other countries have done the same, deSouza said. Most countries have prioritized only virus testing, deSouza said, a strategy that worked well until the original strain mutated into delta.

“Delta changed everything,” raising questions about whether existing vaccines and tests would continue working, according to deSouza.

Even as European countries and countries across Africa built up their sequencing capacity, the U.S. still has large gaps, deSouza said. 

“There still isn’t a federal strategy,” deSouza said. “It’s still the case where it’s left up to communities and the states, and the states have decided differently what they’re going to do.” 

Some U.S. states are sequencing almost one-fifth of positive tests, deSouza said. Others are hardly analyzing any samples. The U.S. needs a federal policy and funding to close the gap, he said. 

The Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytic, launched this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to predict public-health threats, is a step in the right direction, according to an Illumina spokesman. The agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the need for more genome analysis capacity. 

The CEO said he’s pushing for a “Bio Force” program to identify future pathogens, and believes it should combine efforts from the national defense sector, health authorities like the CDC and the WHO, and commercial entities that could contribute by gathering and selling information. While no concrete steps have materialized, deSouza says he’s confident the strategy and funding will come together.

“The goal should be this is our last pandemic,” he said. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.