Nalagenetics Startup Mission To Build Health Personalization Awareness

Establishing a startup or startup in the health sector, especially biotechnology in Indonesia is not an easy thing. Moreover, biotechnology products in terms of personalization of health are still new to the public, so they require hard work to introduce them.

The startup Nalagenetics offers medical technology services focused on personalized screening and intervention. Where, the company will analyze genetic data and produce products in the form of personalized medicine, nutrition and also screening.

“We are interested in using genetic data to resolve differences in health issues,” said Nalagenetics CEO and Co-Founder, Levana Sani in the Scaled Up Growth Program held by Katadata.co.id, last week.

Nalagenetics startup products are claimed to be able to help doctors to be more effective in caring for their patients. However, Levana’s experience in the field shows that not all doctors can accept this new technology, so more efforts are needed to introduce their products to the public. In fact, doctors have a big role in providing treatment recommendations.

“Initially we approached the doctor because we thought about changing the drug, it was to the doctor. However, doctors in Indonesia have not been able to adapt to technology because it is still very new even though some are enthusiastic. This takes time,” he said.

Now, it focuses more on product marketing directly to patients. That way, it is hoped that the Nalagenetics products can be better known to the public.

The Importance of Communities to Personalize Health

Levana also emphasized the importance of the community to personalize health. In addition to avoiding bad risks in the future, personalization is also able to reduce health costs.

Departing from her personal experience, Levana said that her grandfather had a bad experience because of his illness. At that time, his grandfather had to take arrhythmia drugs and instead of getting better, new effects appeared that were risky to health.

The number of drugs consumed, made Levana’s grandfather experience various side effects, some of which are similar to Parkinson’s disease (nerve disease). Then, his grandfather was brought to the United States (US) and the doctor said the drugs he had used so far were ineffective and unnecessary.

“Doctors in the United States said 80 percent of the drugs used by Grandpa were ineffective and unnecessary. For heart medication, his first arrhythmia medication was suitable,” said Levana.

At the time of the incident, Levana was working as a researcher in Singapore and studying genetics. From there, he became acquainted with personalized medicine as a solution so that patients can get the medicine they need and right.

“Some of the most important goals, namely how to give an impact from prevention (prevention) using genetic testing. If many are screened, in the end how much life costs can be saved,” he said.

There is Potential for Savings with Personalized Health

Through the implementation of health personalization, Levana sees the potential for huge savings, including in terms of patient treatment and opportunities to be implemented in Indonesia.

In the case of breast cancer sufferers, he said that personalized medicine metamoxifen can save treatment costs up to 40%.

“This is a test that is already available in several hospitals and in our opinion it is very live saving. 40% of women save money on this treatment,” he said.

Apart from focusing more on patients, Nalagenetics startup also collaborates with various parties to answer the existing challenges. The parties that collaborate with the Nalagenetics startup in genetic screening include the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), hospitals, and health insurance companies.

Previously, the Nalagenetics startup won first place in the health or healthcare category at the 2021 G20 Innovation League international forum which was held in Sorrento, Italy, on 9-10 October 2021.

The startup was chosen by the Ministry of Communication and Information, or Kominfo, to address the global challenges outlined by the G20 at last year’s forum.