UCLA Health, Regeneron Collaborate on Whole-Exome Sequencing
On November 16, 2020, Regeneron and UCLA Health announced a research collaboration on whole-exome sequencing.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Regeneron Genetics Center will provide whole-exome sequencing for 150,000 patients. All patient information and specimens will be deidentified. Financial and other details of the collaboration were not disclosed.
"All patients who participate in this research will be given the opportunity to opt in or out of having actionable results — those that could directly impact their clinical care — returned to them," Daniel Geschwind, director of Institute for Precision Health at UCLA Health, said in a statement. "Actionable results, which are verified by a UCLA CLIA-certified laboratory, are only returned to those patients who specifically say they want them."
UCLA Health is the latest organization to partner with the Regeneron Genetics Center on whole-exome sequencing. Others include the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine, Global Gene, and Geisinger Health.
The collaboration will build on the UCLA ATLAS Community Health Initiative, a large collection of patient blood, saliva, and tissue samples from a diverse patient group. "Including diverse populations is critical to understanding genetic variability across different populations and developing new treatments that precisely target diseases. Our region's population is a microcosm of the world, which makes UCLA Health an ideal setting for this project with Regeneron," UCLA Health CEO John Mazziotta said in a statement.
