Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine (RCIGM®) has announced an agreement with Sidra Medicine, a world-class specialty healthcare organisation for women, children and young people in the State of Qatar, to collaborate on implementing RCIGM's genome-based newborn screening program, BeginNGS. Sidra Medicine joins the BeginNGS Consortium as the first international BeginNGS site.
Sidra Medicine's Division of Genetic and Genomic Medicine is at the forefront of genomic medicine research in the region, offering comprehensive, cutting-edge care for patients of all ages affected by inherited or rare genetic conditions.
Through this collaboration, the BeginNGS programme will broaden the approach to health equity and through the implementation of pilot studies, add diseases and genetic causes to the BeginNGS newborn screening platform that are tailored to meet the needs of the region's population.
As the BeginNGS programme scales and expands across the United States and internationally, Consortium members will support the programme goal of implementing BeginNGS for 1,000 diseases in at least 10 countries by 2030.
"Living with a rare disease is inherently inequitable, but by lessening the burden of the diagnostic odyssey, we can advance health equity solutions for patients with genetically based rare diseases and their families," said Tom DeFay, PhD, Vice Chair of BeginNGS and Deputy Head of Diagnostics at Alexion. "We look forward to continuing to support the BeginNGS Consortium and its members in advancing the global reach of critical diagnostic tools — the first step in the journey to care and treatment."
