Genomas program will help in the prevention and treatment of diseases in the Brazilian population

The initiative aims to advance innovative therapies and form a database with 100,000 complete genomes

Oct 16, The Genomas Brasil Program was launched on Wednesday (14) by President Jair Bolsonaro. The project will encourage scientific and technological development in the areas of genomics and precision health within the scope of the Unified Health System (SUS); in addition to boosting the development of the national genomic industry.


In practice, the new program will help advance medical prevention, treatment and diagnostics, fund research, provide technological advances in relation to innovative therapies and train new scientists capable of deciphering the relationship between the genetic code and diseases in our population.

According to the Ministry of Health, the investment planned in the program for the first four years is at least R $ 600 million.

The goal of Genomas Brasil is to create, in the coming years, a national database with 100 thousand complete genomes of Brazilians. “This database will serve to better understand the relationship between genes and diseases in our people. And to develop personalized technologies to find a cure for rare and complex diseases ”, said Hélio Angotti Neto, secretary of science, technology, innovation and strategic inputs in health, from the Ministry of Health.


The project will sequence genes from carriers of rare, cardiac, cancer and infectious diseases, such as Covid-19. The choice of diseases, according to the Ministry of Health, took into account the number of cases in the country and the high cost they generate to SUS.


With the Genomas Brasil Program, the idea is also to make Brazil one of the global leaders in the field of precision medicine. "We will bring everyone together, and we will have the largest database in the world, so that we can be an example of this model, of this therapy in the world," said Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello.

The program was instituted by Decree 1,949 / 20 published in August of this year in the Federal Official Gazette.

Genomas Brazil Program


Genomas Brasil will work on three fronts to create a scenario that allows the implementation of precision health in SUS.

The first phase - strengthen the areas of science and technology in the country, supporting the execution of research and training of researchers. For this stage, R $ 71 million have already been made available. The initiative has a partnership with the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).


The second phase - will establish a pilot research project to analyze the feasibility of implementing a genomics and precision health service in SUS, in addition to qualifying public health professionals for personalized and precision medicine.


The third phase - to strengthen the Brazilian genomics and precision health industry. It foresees the creation of a pre-acceleration program for startups, with the objective of stimulating innovative ideas for the national industry.


“By strengthening and investing in these three pillars, we will achieve our goal of giving access to these technologies and services to our entire population,” added the Secretary for Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Health Supplies.

And what is genomics?

Genomics is the field of molecular biology that studies the structure, function, evolution and complete mapping of the genome.


And what is a genome?

It is the complete sequence of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) of an organism, that is, a set of all the genes of a living being. Studying the genome is like studying the molecular anatomy of a species. Knowing an organism's genome can bring important information about a living being, such as, for example, the factors that can trigger diseases, such as cancer and diabetes.