In Conversation: Opto and ARK Investment Management on the Future of Genomic Testing

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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Haydn Brain of Opto, an investment content channel published by online trading provider CMC Markets CMCX, recently met with Ali Urman from ARK Investment Management LLC ARKK to discuss DNA sequencing, the intersection of medicine and technology and the future of genomic testing.

ARK Invest is a firm that favors disruptive innovation, focusing on companies that could be leaders in this space, like autonomous tech and robotics, genomic revolution, fintech innovation and space exploration. 

CMC Markets is a financial services company that attempts to build next-generation trading services and help users spread bet or trade Contract for Differences (CFDs) on their favorite instruments around the world. Included is the foreign exchange market (forex), commodities and indices. 

The Next-Generation Genomic Revolution? 

The first human genome cost nearly $1 billion, and it took about 13 years to complete. 

Today, it costs a few hundred to maybe a couple of thousand dollars, and it takes just 1 to 2 days. 

Why is next-generation DNA sequencing the driving force behind the genomic revolution? In Urman’s opinion, it provides an understanding of what's going on genetically, the genetic makeup or what's going on in the body.

“It helps with precision medicine, which can in turn help with clinical trial participation and retention of patients on clinical trials,” she said. “It helps us understand what therapeutics are needed to treat disease, and helps us accelerate maybe gene editing to figure out what a disease is being caused by and then how do we treat that disease? So really, it's sort of the catalyst, you know, for the entire revolution.” 

DNA sequencing has advanced in the last 20 years, Urman said. ARK Invest believes that the number of whole human genome sequencing per year will scale up at an annual rate of about 110%. Logistically, this means it's going to go from sequencing about 2.6 million in 2019 to about 105 million in 2024.

According to Urman, this is where sequencing becomes affordable and clinically meaningful to the patient, so companies want to deliver meaningful insights to patients that can actually provide potential cures or at least real therapies that can help patients. As cost declines, there's an inflection in demand. Clinical trials are becoming more efficient as well, so investigators are really able to find patients who are more likely to enroll and respond to therapy, and this will make the drug more likely to get approved.

As a whole, next-generation sequencing can also facilitate a cost decline, Urman said. Genetic diagnostics can reportedly lower trial failure rates by about 45% in phase-3 lung cancer trials. At a 0% failure rate reduction, this would amount to nearly 20 failed drugs, which would be a total cost of $720 million in research and development. But if you use next-generation sequencing, with a 25% failure rate reduction, then that 20 field drugs goes down to 9 field drugs, and your cost drops to $350 million.

A Diagnosis and Journey 

For Urman, this journey started when her grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer. She became frustrated with the medical field, feeling as though there was a strong downstream approach instead of an upstream one: Help people in a preventative before they get sick rather than being reactive.

Urman’s interest in genomics was sparked after she worked at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and then IBM Watson, the crossroads of technology and medicine. IBM Watson’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based software assisted doctors with diagnoses and assisted in finding patients eligible for clinical trials. AI is a key player here, Urman notes.

“AI can really facilitate new developments,” she said. “AI is really being deployed to address these major diseases; it's trying to boost the efficiency in the healthcare system. And it could increase clinical trial throughput because it could increase patient recruitment and retention, it could cut timelines by more than half. AI and GS CRISPR [a gene editing product] and maybe others … are going to facilitate these trials and their commercialization at an even quicker pace.”

When Urman met her now co-analyst Simon Barnett, she realized the analysts at ARK Invest are so passionate about what they do that it bleeds into their regular lives — they read books and articles and watch shows on gene editing. 

“Having this passion and being able to have an outlet for it in a creative way, and in a very supported way, has been really incredible,” she said. 

“We’re continuing to expedite new content and good research. New ways of providing content, new ways of engaging in the investor community, but also hopefully, creating funding for those companies who really need it, and also those ones that will create a large difference in the biopharmaceutical space.”

Urman notes that ARK Invest is a long-term investor, looking 5 to 10 years out and focusing on companies it really believes in such as Beam Therapeutics BEAM​​, which focuses on base editing, and Telia Co. AB TLSNY, which is looking at in vivo gene editing. 

To anyone listening to the podcast and unsure about what direction to move in with their career, or find this field interesting but don’t have the credentials, Urman says don’t fret. Her nonlinear background has only strengthened her skills and ability to succeed in her position at ARK and life as a whole. 

Urman’s advice? Soak up knowledge like a sponge.

“Don't put so much pressure on yourself,” she said. Be kind. … The kinder you are, the more that comes back to you and also helps make the world a better place.”

Listen to the full podcast here.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.