Mukesh Ambani’s group marks foray into genetic mapping with $196 kit

Bengaluru – Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s group is getting into genetic mapping, looking to make a healthcare trend led by disruptive United States start-ups like 23andMe more affordable and widespread in India’s growing consumer market.

The energy-to-e-commerce conglomerate will roll out within weeks a comprehensive 12,000-rupee (S$196) genome sequencing test, according to Dr Ramesh Hariharan, chief executive officer of Strand Life Sciences, which developed the product. Reliance Industries – led by Mr Ambani, Asia’s richest person – acquired the Bengaluru-based firm in 2021 and now owns about 80 per cent of it.

The genome test, which is about 86 per cent cheaper than other offerings available locally, can reveal a person’s predisposition to cancer and cardiac and neuro-degenerative ailments, as well as identify inherited genetic disorders, he said.

The project to bring affordable personal gene-mapping to India’s 1.4 billion people – on track to be the world’s most populous nation – will potentially create a treasure trove of biological data that can aid drug development and disease prevention in the region. It also dovetails with Mr Ambani’s ambitions to dive further into the world of data – he has often called it the “new oil” – as he pivots his US$192 billion (S$259 billion) empire beyond refining into consumer and digital services.

“It will be the cheapest such genomic profile in the world,” said Dr Hariharan, who also co-founded Strand Life Sciences. “We are going out at an aggressive price point to drive adoption as it gives us a chance to build a viable business in preventive healthcare.”

Health red flags

While ancestry reports from 23andMe can be bought for US$99, its health-plus-ancestry reports cost US$199. Full genome sequencing for health red flags costs more than US$1,000 from Indian rivals MapmyGenome and Medgenome. The cheapest offerings from some Chinese firms come for as low as 599 yuan (S$117), but may not map the entire gamut of diseases that Strand aims to detect.

Price disruption comes naturally to Mr Ambani, who deployed a similar cut-throat strategy after it entered retail in 2006 and telecommunications in 2016, blowing out competition until Reliance emerged the market leader in both sectors.

The global genetic testing market was valued at US$12.7 billion in 2019 and is expected to touch US$21.3 billion by 2027, according to a report from Allied Market Research.

But low prices alone may not be enough to lure people in a market like India, where awareness of such services and their benefits is relatively untested. Although cheaper than global rivals, Reliance’s product, with a price tag of US$145, is still a lot for the average consumer in India, where nearly two-thirds of the population live on less than US$2 a day.

Reliance’s digital services and its recent e-commerce acquisitions can be deployed to push its genome testing product, which just needs blood samples that can be collected at home.

Currently being piloted by a small number of early testers, it will be aggressively marketed by Reliance in the coming weeks on its MyJio app, with an outreach of 425 million wireless subscribers of Reliance Jio Infocomm, health app JioHealthHub and recently acquired e-pharmacy Netmeds, Dr Hariharan said.

With more genomic data, global drugmakers could potentially develop new drugs as well as gain insight into how to better target existing therapies. This could be particularly useful in genetically under-mapped India, for example, in helping to prove a genetic link to certain over-represented diseases in the country.

Still, these ambitions have yet to come to fruition anywhere, and early movers like 23andMe are now facing regulatory pressure. The US Food and Drug Administration barred the company from making any health-related claims in 2013 and put it through a two-year review process. In 2015, the regulator allowed 23AndMe to offer health-related testing.
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