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 from personal DNA and understand how a patient’s health is impacted by their genetics, as well as how they will react to certain medications.
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 some of the guesswork out of medication prescription, as there is far less trial and error with the actual patient, the digital twin able to immediately rule out medicines and treatments that the patient would not react well to; the digital twin also allows for a list of DNA variants to be drawn up, allowing clinicians to see genetic variation and technical detail quickly and easily.
Predictiv’s reports also allow for a summary of the test that is easy for both patient and medical professional to draw data from. Its work, over time, could prevent 12% of adult hospital admissions for genetic causes, forecast the development of 10% of chronic diseases that have a significant genetic component, and gives an overview of genetic reactions to over 300 types of drug, all enabled by its unique bioinformatics pipeline and AI engine. Both of these solutions are – at present – patent pending, but Predictiv is working hard to continue emboldening its efforts whilst it waits, refusing to slow or stagnate in its exemplary work.
Thus, it has so far automated over 99% of the process in order to make for a quick and effective analysis that eliminates as much human error as possible, reassuring Predictiv’s patients that their results will be equally reliable every time, all lent more credibility by the education of its CEO. Sajung Yun graduated from the University in Hawaii with flying colours (high honors) and his exemplary qualifications in the Biomedical sciences, fuelling his drive both as a scientist and as an entrepreneur. Sajung knew that he could combine both of his fields in order to deliver something to the world’s market segment that it previously lacked, and this also influenced his other research, such as his work as a genetic engineer at the National Institutes of Health.
Moreover, he even received an MBA with a double concentration in Health Care Management and Entrepreneurship from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Additionally, as an adjunct lecturer for the MS in Bioinformatics Center for Biotechnology Education at Johns Hopkins University, he currently uses this width and breadth of experience and education to teach up and coming young minds in his field at the centre, specifically delivering a course on using tools for genome analysis. This, and the qualifications of the wider team that range from business acumen to the nitty gritty of modern scientific research, reassures Predictiv’s patients that they will be well taken care of at every turn. With many exciting developments on the horizon and an impressive roster of current work at its back, Predictiv has certainly made itself one to watch.
