Genomics Ltd are a member of UKHLSI, a trade association for companies pushing for speedier adoption of innovation in UK healthcare and life sciences that is also part of the Chamber Group.
New agentic AI platform uses large scale human genetics data to support faster, safer and more effective medicine development.
Genomics has launched Mystra AI, a new agentic artificial intelligence platform designed to help scientists identify and validate drug targets using large scale human genetics data.
The UK founded TechBio company says the platform will make genetic insights easier to access across pharmaceutical and biotech research teams, helping researchers make better decisions earlier in the drug development process.
The launch comes as the pharmaceutical industry faces continuing pressure over the cost, risk and productivity of research and development. Genomics says 95 per cent of drug candidates entering clinical trials fail, with the average cost of bringing a new medicine to market now exceeding $2.3 billion according to Deloitte.
By using human genetic evidence to strengthen decisions about which targets to pursue, the company argues that Mystra AI could help reduce risk, improve success rates and support the development of safer, more effective medicines.
According to Genomics, drug targets with human genetic support are 2.6 times more likely to succeed in clinical trials.
A New Platform for Genomic Intelligence
Mystra AI is built on Genomics’ human genotype and phenotype database, which the company says is the largest and most diverse of its kind globally.
Its Foundational Data Collection includes more than 45,000 genome wide association studies and trillions of rows of data. Over the past decade, Genomics says it has used this platform to identify more than 100 drug targets across diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
The platform is designed to make complex genetic analysis accessible through a conversational chat interface. Scientists can ask questions in plain language, without needing specialist analytical expertise, and receive answers grounded in data from the Mystra platform.
Genomics says every answer is supported by evidence, visuals and proprietary analytical tools, giving users transparency over how the platform has reached its conclusions. The aim is to make outputs reproducible, verifiable and useful in day-to-day scientific workflows.
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Genomics, Professor Sir Peter Donnelly said the platform would allow scientists working across research and development, as well as business development and licensing, to harness genetics more easily when identifying new targets, assessing acquisition opportunities or expanding existing medicines into new indications.
He said the result could be “safer, more effective treatments for patients, faster”, describing the launch as “the start of a new era of genomic intelligence”.
President at Genomics, David Thornton said the company had built the largest human genetics dataset to deepen understanding of human biology and disease. By integrating that catalogue of human association data into an advanced AI platform, he said Genomics was giving scientists the tools and information needed to discover the next generation of treatments.
From Oxford TechBio Spin Out to Transatlantic Life Sciences Scale Up
The launch of Mystra AI also builds on Genomics’ wider position as one of the UK’s most closely watched life sciences scale ups.
Founded as an Oxford spin out in 2014 by leading statistical and human geneticists, the company has grown into a transatlantic TechBio business with teams across the UK and the United States. Its model combines large scale genetic and health data with advanced analytics to support both drug discovery and predictive, preventative healthcare.
Earlier this year, Genomics opened its flagship London office in the Knowledge Quarter, underlining its growth as a UK science led company with international ambitions. At the opening, the UK Government described companies like Genomics as among the “jewels in our crown”, placing the company within a wider national ambition to make life sciences both a healthcare and growth priority.
That wider context matters. The UK has long held major strengths in genomics, artificial intelligence, NHS data, academic research and life sciences. The question for policymakers is how those strengths can be translated into commercial scale, new medicines, better prevention and improved outcomes for patients.
Mystra AI is one example of how that agenda is beginning to take shape.
Linking Drug Discovery and Prevention
Although Mystra AI is focused on drug discovery and target validation, it sits within a broader shift in healthcare and life sciences: the adoption of novel innovation to help people live longer healthier lives. In healthcare, this wave of adapting for the future has been focused on the move towards earlier intervention, prediction and prevention.
Genomics’ work spans both life sciences and healthcare. Alongside its drug discovery platform, the company has developed tools using polygenic risk scores to identify an individual’s risk of developing common diseases before symptoms appear.
This connects the launch of Mystra AI to a wider policy debate about the future of healthcare and adoption of innovation in the UK. The NHS is under pressure from rising demand, long term conditions and constrained resources. Better use of genomics and predictive analytics across life sciences and healthcare could help identify new treatments, as well as patients at higher risk, direct people into the right screening or prevention programmes, and support a more personalised approach to care.
In its earlier work, Genomics has argued that the UK is already a global leader in genetics and genomics. The challenge in healthcare now is not just scientific discovery, but scale. That means ensuring that new tools reach patients, support clinicians, strengthen UK industry and help the NHS move from reactive treatment towards more proactive, preventative care.
Industry Adoption
Genomics says Mystra AI has already been adopted by pharmaceutical and biotech organisations, including BridgeBio Pharma and Relation Therapeutics.
Xue Zeng, Associate Director, Statistical Genetics at BridgeBio Pharma, said the platform was making it easier and more efficient to mine genomics data, accelerating day to day workflows.
Chief Executive Officer at Relation Therapeutics, David Roblin said the company was proud to be an early adopter of Mystra AI, adding that the platform had helped its research teams explore and evaluate biological insights at pace.
The platform has also received backing from wider industry leaders. Chief Medical Officer at Amazon Web Services, Rowland Illing said Genomics had developed a platform that could change how diseases and targets are identified for the next generation of drug discovery.
Chief Executive Officer at the BioIndustry Association, Professor Chris Molloy said the release and rapid adoption of Mystra AI demonstrated the UK’s ability to harness genomic data for the benefit of patients and the economy. He said the platform showed the breadth of the UK life sciences community and its ability to discover new medicines at world class pace and scale.
A Test of UK Life Sciences Ambition
For policymakers, the launch of Mystra AI highlights a broader opportunity facing the UK economy.
Britain has world class research institutions, valuable health data assets, leading genomics capability and a growing artificial intelligence sector. But turning those strengths into globally competitive companies, new treatments and better patient outcomes requires more than scientific excellence.
It requires investment, commercial ambition, regulatory clarity, trusted data use and stronger connections between the NHS, industry, academia and government.
Genomics’ growth story – across its life sciences and healthcare divisions – reflects that wider opportunity. The company says its platform can be accessed through different engagement models, including direct software access, partly managed projects combining client data with Genomics’ datasets, and fully managed collaborations with its team of statistical genetics scientists.
That flexibility is designed to support pharmaceutical and biotech partners at different stages of the research process, from early target discovery to deeper analysis of proprietary datasets.
As pressure grows to develop safer and more effective medicines, platforms such as Mystra AI suggest that the next phase of drug discovery may be shaped not only by laboratory science, but by the ability to interpret complex biological data at speed and scale.
For the UK, the opportunity is clear. If companies such as Genomics can turn national strengths in genomics, artificial intelligence and life sciences into practical tools used by global pharma and the NHS, the benefits could be felt in new medicines, better prevention, high value jobs and long-term economic growth.
The challenge now is ensuring that promise is matched by scale.
You can still get a copy of our new edition of ChamberUK. Our parliamentary journal.
Photo Credit: Genomics Ltd