Issue 8 2021

6 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 8 2021 , Jun21161 Bio Digital Twins for Healthcare As the ‘CEO of the Year, 2021’ for Healthcare IT, leader of Predictiv – Sajung Yun, Ph.D., M.B.A. – has made a name for himself when it comes to accurately simulating and predicting medical and clinical solutions to genetic diseases. Fundamentally, Predictiv does this by way of its exemplary ‘digital twin’ solution, an outstanding scientific breakthrough that allows clinicians to digitally simulate frompersonal DNA and understand how a patient’s health is impacted by their genetics, as well as how they will react to certainmedications. Predictiv is a company that was founded by genomic and scientific experts, Sajung and Sijung Yun, with additional backing from serial entrepreneur Alex Rochegude. At the time of its founding, Alex had already made two successful business inroads and exits, and between the three of them they ensured that Predictiv could be built up from the basis of both academic and business acumen, all with the goal of changing medicine for the better. Fundamentally, Predictiv’s mission is to create actionable health and analytical health data in order to facilitate people living the best, happiest, and most informed lives, using genomic sequencing and genetic testing. In the future, this methodology will be launched through a fully scaled and efficient medical data platform soon along with fully zoomable digital interface, a milestone that grows closer by the day. This alongside its other services will allow Predictiv to bring the worlds of nutrition and fitness into the future by way of allowing DNA digital twin testing to assess a patient’s risk level. As can probably be surmised, having this technology at their fingertips would be a landmark breakthrough for both medical professionals and patients alike. For now however, it is currently offering its mail-in genetic testing service and consistently striving to make this the best it can be. Therefore, Predictiv is pushing this service in order to show them just how much it can improve their medical service experience. 10% of the world’s most serious diseases and conditions have a genetic component that – if found early – could allow for lifesaving treatment and stop the condition from developing further down the line, and so Predictiv’s response has been the world’s first digital twin that can make this a possibility. Based on results from a patient’s 20,000 genes, the service can predict, prevent, and help to understand various different genetic anomalies and disorders that may previously have been able to fly completely under the radar; this allows for a more holistic approach to healthcare by use of the Predictiv process. Firstly, a patient orders a kit. This DNA collection kit includes instructions about what to do, requiring patients to clip their fingernails and deposit the trimmings in the container provided, after which they are asked to return them in a prepaid envelope and register online with a unique patient code that will allow them to keep an eye on how their case is progressing. Directly after this, as soon as Predictiv has received the sample, the real work begins. It extracts and sequences the DNA sample so that is can begin analysing the data, creating an exact copy of it – this is where the ‘digital twin’ part of the business model comes in, as it literally creates a simulation of a patient’s DNA that it can use in its further testing and investigation. Once the twin has been prepared, the patient will be invited to make an appointment with one of Predictiv’s healthcare partners in order to discuss next steps. During this consultation and appointment, the patient will make a preventative plan with the healthcare expert they are in conversations with, setting up a highly tailored and personalised next-steps style solution. Furthermore, this will be generated from the reactions the digital twin had to certain testing, but also consider the client’s lifestyle and everyday routine in order to ensure they are being given the solutions that will offer the best quality of life for them. This allows Predictiv to work in a way that is effective, empathic, and sensitive, sensible to the individual differences that exist in all people and that DNA is only one part of the equation – the way a person lives is also a highly important factor in how their health will need to be managed. Over 10% of serious diseases in the world having a genetic component allows Predictiv to be in a unique position to help mitigate the risk, with the completion of a patient’s comprehensive disease profile being based on these genetic risk factors first and foremost. With this at the fore, it can use the digital twin to observe what treatments and medications might be right for a specific patient by observing how the digital twin reacts. This takes