London—Covington represented Illumina on its partnership with Genomics England, to sequence up to 500,000 whole genomes for the NHS Genomic Medicine Service. This partnership is part of the wider ambition to analyse up to 5 million genomes by 2024, to enable the UK to maintain its position as a global leader in genomics.
Under this partnership and guided by the National Genomic Test Directory, patients with certain rare diseases or cancer types will be eligible for whole genome sequencing, in order to facilitate clinical interpretation to support diagnosis and inform treatment pathways. In addition, this partnership aims to improve patient outcomes and to increase the number of disease areas that could benefit from whole genome sequencing.
This partnership builds on the successful delivery of the 100,000 Genomes Project (100KGP), which established infrastructure and expertise with respect to whole genome sequencing for patients with rare genetic diseases and cancer. Illumina was a strategic partner of Genomics England in respect of the 100KGP, a transaction which Covington also advised on.
Illumina is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of life science tools and integrated systems for large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. Genomics England is wholly owned by the Department of Health and was initially set up to deliver the 100,000 Genomes Project.
The Covington team was led by Daniel Pavin, Winsome Cheung and Dora Pap (Life Sciences Transactions/Commercial), Sarah Cowlishaw, Brian Kelly and Grant Castle (Regulatory), and Joshua Gray (Data Protection).
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