Hygea celebrates our 2nd anniversary!

Genes For Life ^®

Hygea Precision Medicine’s software platform enables providers to personalize patient care through genetic testing and empowers patients to take an active role in their healthcare. We are an elite team of software engineers, geneticists, precision medicine and healthcare experts. We are a culture of collaboration and innovation working on advanced technology
that strives to improve healthcare.

Our Mission

Empowering providers and patients to integrate precision medicine into better healthcare by delivering best in class, intuitive software system that combines clinical guidance, genomic knowledge, and machine learning driven optimization to manage, store, visualize and share genomic data and test results.

19,000+

Genes

3 Billion+

DNA Basepairs

23

Chromosomes

7.6 Billion+

Human Population

Education

Precision medicine refers to using detailed information collected on a patient, including information about their genes, to better prevent, diagnose and treat diseases. Precision medicine is not a new concept, but it has gained momentum in the past decade due to advances in sequencing technology. The human genome provides the instructions for making every protein that your body needs to survive.

There are subtypes of common diseases where mutations can have a very large impact on disease, like hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, maturity onset diabetes of the young, and familial hypercholesterolemia. For these subtypes, genetic testing can identify patients with a very high likelihood of developing disease. Routine testing for hereditary breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and certain types of hereditary cardiovascular disease is already underway. In addition to these genetic subtypes of common diseases, there are thousands of rare genetic diseases that mostly affect children for which genetic testing is available. Whole genome sequencing is being used in the pediatric setting to diagnose children and newborns with life threatening diseases.

Precision medicine is already being used to guide medication use. Pharmacogenomic tests are used to identify which patients are likely to respond to commonly prescribed drugs, and which patients are at increased risk of serious side effects. These tests can tell patients which drugs to avoid or consider a lower dose of. In some instances, pharmacogenomics can be used to match patients to specific drugs based on their genetic profile. This is increasingly common in cancer, where the genetic profile of the patient’s tumor can be used to tailor treatment.

The genetic testing landscape has exploded in the past five years. It is estimated that there are 74,000 genetic test products on the market. They are being sold through academic labs, large reference labs and companies that specialize in genetics. Most genetic tests for health conditions require a physician to order the test, but consumers are also targeted directly by some companies that bypass the physician altogether. The ability to obtain genetic test results directly, and access their own genetic information is empowering patients to take charge of their own health.

Precision medicine is poised to become part of mainstream medicine. However, significant challenges exist in bringing precision medicine to the mainstream. Physician awareness and understanding of genetic testing, lack of insurance coverage for some tests, skepticism surrounding the validity of testing, and technical challenges around implementation are all issues that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of precision medicine.

There are several large-scale efforts to sequence the genomes of healthy individuals, primarily for research purposes. Projects such as the All of Us initiative by the US government are bringing genome sequencing to the masses. It is likely that in your lifetime you will have your own genome sequenced, and the information contained in your genome will be used to diagnose diseases and tailor treatments to your unique genetic profile.

There are subtypes of common diseases where mutations can have a very large impact on disease, like hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, maturity onset diabetes of the young, and familial hypercholesterolemia. For these subtypes, genetic testing can identify patients with a very high likelihood of developing disease. Routine testing for hereditary breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and certain types of hereditary cardiovascular disease is already underway. In addition to these genetic subtypes of common diseases, there are thousands of rare genetic diseases that mostly affect children for which genetic testing is available. Whole genome sequencing is being used in the pediatric setting to diagnose children and newborns with life threatening diseases.
Precision medicine is already being used to guide medication use. Pharmacogenomic tests are used to identify which patients are likely to respond to commonly prescribed drugs, and which patients are at increased risk of serious side effects. These tests can tell patients which drugs to avoid or consider a lower dose of. In some instances, pharmacogenomics can be used to match patients to specific drugs based on their genetic profile. This is increasingly common in cancer, where the genetic profile of the patient’s tumor can be used to tailor treatment.
The genetic testing landscape has exploded in the past five years. It is estimated that there are 74,000 genetic test products on the market. They are being sold through academic labs, large reference labs and companies that specialize in genetics. Most genetic tests for health conditions require a physician to order the test, but consumers are also targeted directly by some companies that bypass the physician altogether. The ability to obtain genetic test results directly, and access their own genetic information is empowering patients to take charge of their own health.
Precision medicine is poised to become part of mainstream medicine. However, significant challenges exist in bringing precision medicine to the mainstream. Physician awareness and understanding of genetic testing, lack of insurance coverage for some tests, skepticism surrounding the validity of testing, and technical challenges around implementation are all issues that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of precision medicine.
There are several large-scale efforts to sequence the genomes of healthy individuals, primarily for research purposes. Projects such as the All of Us initiative by the US government are bringing genome sequencing to the masses. It is likely that in your lifetime you will have your own genome sequenced, and the information contained in your genome will be used to diagnose diseases and tailor treatments to your unique genetic profile.