Helix Launches First Online Consumer Marketplace For DNA-Powered Products

July 24, 2017

By Bio-IT World Staff

July 24, 2017 | Helix today launched the first online marketplace for DNA-powered products that offer insights on ancestry, entertainment, family, fitness, health, and nutrition. Helix created the marketplace, Helix.com, by forging partnerships with innovative fitness and nutrition app developers, emerging genomics companies, and established healthcare institutions that were interested in or already integrating DNA sequencing into their commercial offerings. Helix’s inaugural marketplace partners include Admera Health, Azumio, DNAFit, Dot One, EverlyWell, Exploragen, Genome Medical, Insitome, Lose It!, National Geographic, Sema4, Titanovo, and Vinome. The company also has a roster of coming soon partners, and anticipates launching products from additional partners including Mayo Clinic, Invitae, Intelliseq, WellnessFX, HumanCode, and Precise.ly in 2017.

Robin Thurston, Chief Executive Officer of Helix, said in a press release, “Our understanding of how DNA impacts health and wellness is advancing rapidly and we are moving towards an era where insights from your DNA will be essential to how you live and the decisions you make, from the moment you wake up until the minute you go to sleep. The Helix marketplace makes this possible by providing an open platform for emerging and established businesses who can now build or enhance their products with DNA sequenced at our state of the art CLIA- and CAP-accredited lab. The diverse set of partners featured on our marketplace is a testament to the real opportunity for a diverse range of organizations to make genomics accessible and actionable for every person.”

The Helix marketplace currently offers over 20 products and services from the following partners:

• Admera Health

• Azumio

• DNAFit

• Dot One

• EverlyWell

• Exploragen

• Genome Medical

• Insitome

• Lose It!

• National Geographic

• Sema4

• Titanovo

• Vinome

Helix is also partnered with the following organizations on products and services coming soon:

• Geisinger

• HumanCode

• Intelliseq

• Invitae

• Mayo Clinic

• Precise.ly

• WellnessFX

All products will be available for purchase on the Helix marketplace at Helix.com

Unlike other personal genomics companies that require a separate DNA sample for each test they provide, Helix collects and sequences a DNA sample once, and then securely stores and protects a customer’s DNA so they can order additional DNA-powered products from the Helix marketplace without providing another saliva sample. A customer's first purchase on Helix.com requires a saliva collection kit that has a one-time cost of $80. When a customer mails in a saliva sample to Helix’s CLIA- and CAP-accredited sequencing lab, their DNA is read with the Exome+ assay. Exome+ is a proprietary Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) assay that sequences all 22,000 protein-coding genes as well as additional information-rich areas identified by Helix’s scientific team. This yields 100 times more data than other techniques such as microarrays. Once the DNA is read, Helix securely shares only the relevant portion of a customer’s DNA data with the partner whose product the customer ordered, all with the express consent of the customer at the time of purchase. The partner then analyzes the data and provides insights directly to the customer. When a customer makes a subsequent purchase on Helix.com, they are only charged for the cost of the DNA-powered product, without any additional saliva kit required.

The Helix marketplace also offers customers access to independent genetic counseling before or after ordering any of their products through Genome Medical, a new genetics medical practice with a telemedicine network of genetic counselors and physicians.

“Today, large-scale genomic sequencing is on the verge of becoming part of the everyday practice of medicine,” Robert Green, a medical geneticist who is Chair of the Helix Scientific Advisory Board and Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, wrote in a press release. “As the costs of sequencing decline, there is a growing appetite for health-related, ancestry-related and non-clinical genomics products. Offering lower cost genomics products in many forms will speed the normalization and democratization of genomics and lead to a better understanding of the validity and utility of such products.”