Here is How Genomics Are Going to Affect Your Life (And Marketing)

A quick recap, I’m writing a summary of Alec Ross’s book “The Industries of the Future”. This is the 2nd industry that is going to shape our economy in the next decade, you can read about the first one (Robots) Here. And now to genomics…

Why Now?
It seems like we are closer than ever to find a cure for cancer and that makes me very happy. But what is different now? How can we suddenly talk about curing one of the world’s worst diseases as if it was an easy task?

The breakthrough in the field of genomics occurred a while back in 1995, when the genome of a living organism, a bacterium that causes severe infections, was sequenced for the first time. That is when it became clear that the key to genomics is sequencing the entire human genome. If we could discover and identify the 3 billion base pairs that make up our DNA we’ll be able to ‘decode’ humanity but more importantly, we’ll know what is the right format of our DNA, so we can easily discover ‘bugs’ in the system. 
When it comes to cancer, we’ll be able to target cancer cells with precision (as appose to chemotherapy that targets all cells) and with personalized drugs created to match our specific type of cancer. Oh, and it might be closer that you think. According to a recent research published on Nature journal “A universal cancer vaccine is on the horizon after scientists discovered how to rewire immune cells to fight any type of disease”. Wow.

“The cost of mapping that first genome was $2.7 billion”. Currently it’s closer to $5000 and takes about a day, so almost an affordable price, and it will continue to drop allowing the health care industry to commercialize drugs based on genomics and gene therapy. With advances in big data it is also becoming easier to draw knowledge out of the DNA sequencing. Take for example Genoox that was one of the startups in the Microsoft Tel Aviv Accelerator. They are a big data platform for storing and managing genomic data in the cloud, reducing the complexity and costs attached with genomic data management.

Where can we expect to see genomics in play?
“The size of the genomics market was estimated at a little more than $11 billion in 2013 and is going to grow faster than anyone could imagine”.

Imagine a simple blood test could indicate the presence of even the tiniest amounts of tumor DNA. The cancer can be discovered before any symptoms have developed, unlike today’s most reliable tool for finding cancer – an MRI. In a few years your yearly checkup could save your life by detecting any sign of cancer early on. That alone can improve the rates of recovery.

There are a few genomic sequencing companies out there today which you probably haven’t heard of: BaseHealth’s signature product, Genophen, sequences your genome but then uses a “risk engine”—a big data program that applies algorithms across medical, behavioral, and environmental information—to serve up a personalized set of behavior and treatment recommendations. Illumina, a San Diego-based gene-sequencing hardware and software company with a market capitalization of $22 billion, operates behind the scenes, selling hardware and services to companies and research institutions (In 2014, one of their machines was the first to sequence the entire human genome for just $1,000). PGDx developed a software that can identify exactly where proteins are mutating. It makes sense of why your cancer is growing and gives you more information about your tumor than any oncologist can. 

There are a few more ambitious projects already in play, take for example Synthetic Genomics, the company announced a project in 2014 that aims to genetically engineer pigs with organs that can be safely transplanted into human beings. Can you imagine human-compatible organs being grown in pigs? That will mean we no longer need to depend on organ donations to save lives, organs won’t be a scarce resource any longer. 

Another ambitious project is Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI) – a company that aspires to use genetic data to dial back the effects of aging. And if keep us alive longer wasn’t enough, how about resurrecting the dead? In 2012, the Revive & Restore project was started in San Francisco to bring extinct animals back to life using advanced genomics technology. 

What is the next challenge of genomics? Scientists now want to break the brain’s code and begin to leverage genomics to diagnose and treat neurological and mental illnesses. “Fifteen years after it hit the market, 33 million Americans were taking Prozac and other anti-depressants”. That is a big number. The challenge of mental illnesses is that unlike other diseases, which are caused by a single genetic mutation, most mental disorders are caused by many contributing factors. Just a couple of years ago, the number of genes that we knew about that played a role in schizophrenia was about zero, and now it’s about a hundred,” and that’s just in the past three to four years”.

An interesting opportunity where this information can be useful is the prevention of suicide. What is by digging into the genetics of suicide, it is possible to develop a treatment that reduces the biological impulse to kill oneself? And what about killing others? A recent article in popular science asked the questions: Can your genes make you kill? If there is a gene responsible for murder or violence, what happens if we can develop a cure that eliminates the effect of this gene?

 Where’s the catch?
23andMe provides its clients ancestry-related genetic reports and raw genetic data. You spit in a tube, send it to 23andMe’s lab, and for $99 they send you back your genetic information. It’s not a full sequencing of your genome, but a snapshot of the areas of your DNA that researchers know the most about. Sounds simple, but it’s not. Companies like 23andMe (Hmm…Theranos) are facing criticism around accuracy. The test results are not always conclusive and can even contradict one another. This is what you get for a $99 test, but there’s a problem when a test can change the course of people’s lives – generate false worry and false treatment.  

Another concern about the rise of medicines rooted in our genetics is that we as people will get lazy. Simply put, if we’ll have drugs that solve almost anything we won’t have a need for a healthy life style, which ultimately can cause more illness. In addition, delivering genetic data to people who do not have the knowledge or resources to treat their illness will just cause them to give up or ignore their situation. That’s not a good outcome for anyone.

The various uses of the information gained by gene sequencing can go beyond treating illness. Have you heard the term “designer babies”? This is something that can happen as genomics grows more sophisticated. Parents will be able to choose and ‘engineer’ their babies. Want your kid to have blue eyes and be athletics – no problem, there’s an app for that (and there probably will be). What kind of world would we live in when everyone is engineered to be some kind of perfect? (hint: it might look a bit like the world in Divergent).

How could this affect us?
The revolution around genomics got a big boost in January 2015 when President Obama announced a $215 million investment by the US government in what could eventually be a decade-long, billion-dollar initiative involving a million volunteers to develop “precision medicines” tailored to a specific person’s genetics and the characteristics of their tumor. 

As Alec Ross explains in his book, there are three things necessary to create breakthrough advances in the life sciences: great scientists, lots of capital for academic research, and a venture capital market to help turn academic research into commercial products.  Currently, USA is leading the race because scientists are more inclined to join American universities, but China is emerging as a leader at the field of genomics as well.

“Genomics is going to have a bigger impact on our health than any single innovation of the 20th century.  Accompanying and enabling the development of genomics are connection technologies—those that link us to information and to each other—that are growing more powerful and less expensive”.

With the expected advances we might live longer lives and have more control on our health, but it won’t be a walk in the park. We’ll have to manage vast amounts of information and data and make difficult choices. Contrary to what you might think, having too much information and knowing what are your choices and what you need to do to survive can make your life more difficult. We won’t live our lives; we’ll be forced to plan them.  We may not need to endure the pain and suffering that comes with cancer, but we’ll have new challenges to face like low mortality rates that lead to an explosion in population growth along with a super competitive world where everyone is designed to be the best and endure. We’ll pretty much screw up Darwin’s Natural Selection theory and we’ll need to adjust.

Now let’s look at the possibilities from a marketer’s point of view. There is a company helping high-profile brands use genetic testing as part of marketing and promotional campaigns. One example of such a campaign might be that a sports retailer like Nike sells a test to customers to find out if they have a so-called "speed gene," which many top athletes possess. Once these companies have our genetic information available, then why not use this it to target specific customers? Make no mistake, this is the direction the industry is going towards, it’s actually already happening and I can’t imagine what’s next (well, I actually have a vivid imagination and I’m thinking that if we crack the code to the human mind, then we can ‘develop’ applications that will operate on our minds, marketing related ones included). Any ideas?

*WTF = what is the future of