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The government has partnered with a Chinese company to map the genetic material of the Irish in the hope of making progress in the medical field. As part of this initiative, the Irish company Genomics Medicine Ireland (GMI) will recruit up to 600 people over the next five years.
The project, with a budget of 400 million dollars (353 million euros), aims to involve 400,000 Irish, including patients with various common and rare diseases.
It is designed to improve medical outcomes by enabling researchers to identify common genes in people with certain conditions.
In addition, it is intended to allow doctors to identify when people have genes that put them at risk for developing an illness and then monitor or intervene with those patients earlier.
The project is led by WuXi NextCode – part of the Chinese group WuXi. WuXi NextCode buys the Irish company GMI as part of the deal.
The Strategic Investment Fund for Ireland (ISIF) is investing $ 70 million to support the project, alongside a number of other investors, including the Chinese venture capital company. Yunfeng Capital investment, co-founded by Alibaba's chief, Jack Ma.
Investors hope to make a return, for example by charging fees to healthcare companies to access the database.
If the company develops a successful drug based on the data, investors may then be able to obtain a fee depending on the terms of the transaction.
Asked about possible opposition to the project because of a company based in China, Rob Brainin, director of WuXi NextCode, said: "We are a global company and we operate in Shanghai, Reykjavik, Cambridge, Mbadachusetts … and now Dublin.
"All the data related to this initiative belongs to GMI, which is a subsidiary, it is not mixed and mixed with the rest, we do not consider ourselves the owners of the data."
Paul Saunders, head of strategic innovation at ISIF, said the state fund had performed "due diligence" on WuXi NextCode.
"We do not invest any of our investments lightly," he added, noting that ISIF would monitor the project closely.
Anne Jones, CEO of GMI, said all project data would be stored on European servers.
"We stick to the highest ethical standards, we will always be extremely compliant, especially with the general regulations," she said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the agreement "will ultimately provide better health and wellness management for citizens and patients in Ireland and turn the gains we make here into benefits for people around the world.
"The success of GMI is a reflection on Ireland's wider success as a site of the life sciences industry for more than 50 years," added Mr. Varadkar.
Irish independent
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