The Alliance for Genomic Discovery
A consortium NashBio launched with Illumina and ten pharmaceutical partners. 250,000 whole genomes sequenced from the BioVU biobank, each one linked to a longitudinal clinical record.
- 250,000
- whole genomes sequenced
- 10
- pharmaceutical partners
- 2 years
- from launch to milestone
Genetic evidence changes the odds
A 2024 Nature study found that drug programs with genetic evidence behind them succeed 2.6 times more often than those without. The genomic resources large enough to supply that evidence have mostly been built on homogeneous Western European ancestry, and on questionnaire data rather than clinical records, which limits what they can say about how a variant behaves in a real patient population.
Built for discovery
AGD launched in January 2023 and reached its 250,000-sample milestone in March 2025, making it one of the fastest large clinical genomic datasets assembled to date. De-identified DNA from NashBio's VUMC BioVU biobank was sequenced and integrated with EHR-derived phenotypes to form a shared platform for the member companies.
The build prioritized ancestral diversity and linked every sample to longitudinal clinical phenotypes, so findings hold up across the populations a therapy will actually treat.
Members
AbbVie, Alnylam, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Merck, Novo and the Regeneron Genetics Center.
How AGD was built
- January 2023Launched by NashBio and Illumina with ten pharmaceutical partners
- Under two years100,000 genomes, against three to five years for prior efforts
- March 2025250,000 whole genomes, milestone reached
- Next phaseAGD 2.0 adds proteomic profiling to the whole-genome foundation
| Launched | January 2023, by NashBio and Illumina |
|---|---|
| Members | Ten pharmaceutical partners, listed below |
| Scale | 250,000 whole genomes, milestone reached March 2025 |
| Sample source | De-identified DNA from NashBio's VUMC BioVU biobank |
| Sequencing | deCODE genetics, an Amgen subsidiary |
| Analysis | Illumina's DRAGEN pipeline and Connected Analytics |
| Linkage | Every sample tied to EHR-derived longitudinal phenotypes |
The AGD dataset is unique for its diversity and depth and has already proven its value by empowering us to make important discoveries we would not have made without it.
What comes next
AGD's next phase adds multiomic layers, starting with proteomics, to probe disease mechanisms and surface new intervention targets.
Membership inquiries and questions about access go straight to our team.
NashBio data is also available outside AGD. See Data products for what your team can license directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Alliance for Genomic Discovery?
- The Alliance for Genomic Discovery is a consortium launched in January 2023 by NashBio and Illumina with ten pharmaceutical partners. It sequenced 250,000 whole genomes from NashBio's VUMC BioVU biobank, each linked to a longitudinal electronic health record, to give members a shared resource for drug target discovery and development.
- Which companies are AGD members?
- AGD members are AbbVie, Alnylam, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Merck, Novo and the Regeneron Genetics Center. Members share access to the whole-genome and linked clinical data for target discovery, validation and therapeutic research.
- How many genomes does AGD include?
- AGD reached 250,000 whole genomes in March 2025, roughly two years after launching in January 2023. Sequencing was carried out by deCODE genetics through Illumina's DRAGEN pipeline, reaching 100,000 genomes in under two years against the three to five years earlier efforts took.
- Can I access AGD data without being a member?
- AGD data is available to member companies. NashBio licenses whole genome sequencing and linked clinical data outside the consortium as a standard data product, with 250K+ sequences at 30X coverage delivered as VCF or gVCF alongside the structured clinical foundation.