It's no secret that there's big money in healthcare. Trillions of dollars is put into research every year. It's becoming alarmingly common for medical prescriptions to cost over $10,000 per year, and in some cases over $100,000 per year. And people are willing to spend it to become or stay healthy. In many cases, people need to spend it to avoid becoming gravely ill and dying.

The discovery of DNA in 1953 represented a dawn of a new era. The vast majority of drugs we have today have been based, to some degree, on what we have learned about human DNA. One thing we have learned is that many conditions & diseases out there have a hereditary link that is passed on through our DNA. Cancer. Heart Disease. Heart Attacks. Hemophilia. Stroke. Huntington's Disease. Sickle Cell Anemia. Cystic Fibrosis. We are pre-disposed to these conditions if we carry the applicable genetic markers that we were born with.

Many of these diseases can be fought however, and the earlier they are discovered the better. Even if you don't currently have the disease, knowing that you're pre-disposed to the condition(s) can help you watch for them in the future and live a life that helps minimize the risks associated with acquiring the disease, or minimizing how it affects one's life.

Genome Sequencing

We've been able to test for genetic markers for specific diseases for a while know - but only when scientists have specifically targeted and tested for a DNA marker. That started to change about 20 years ago when sequencing (most) of the human genome became possible, instead of just testing for a single marker. But there was a big problem. Sequencing so much of the human genome was prohibitively expensive. In the early stages, sequencing costed in excess of $10 million USD per genome. Now it's a few thousand. And less comprehensive sequencing can be done for a couple hundred. We're truly in a revolutionary period of time here - progress is happening at an incredibly pace!

As I mentioned earlier, many drugs today are fundamentally based on our genetic makeup. But in order the drug manufacturers to do the necessary research & development, they need DNA samples from specific individuals. The problem now becomes collecting the necessary data from people who have the applicable traits. In most cases, the drug companies can't just collect DNA from people at random. They need to  collect from people with the applicable genetic markers. And that's where Shivom comes in .

Shivom

Shivom is going to enable people to have their DNA & genome sequenced, where individuals will then be able to sell their genomic data to drug manufacturers and drug research companies. Individuals actually get compensated for providing their genomic data. They're utilizing blockchain technology to help them in this endeavor for a few reasons.

1. Prevents tampering of data

2. Gets rid of the middlemen in the equation the increase costs

3. Helps keep data provide, since everything is encrypted on the blockchain

4. Allows them to operate over a vastly larger jurisdiction - across international borders which almost no companies are able to do now at scale

5. Everything is timestamped securely; something pretty important in the medical field

6. Data can be accessed from everyone which is particularly helpful for underserved markets and third world countries where people have no access to this data.

This market is already big, and is likely to get much much bigger. But all companies operating in it are currently doing to in an inefficient manner & they don't scale effectively. You can read more into the details of their ecosystem from a more technical perspective in their whitepaper

The Competitors

Given the amount of research money involved here, it's not a surprise that many companies have entered the DNA space. Probably the most popular company right now is 23andme but their aims are slightly different than that of Shivom since 23andme is selling dna kits to consumers and checking for specific markers, so that consumers can become aware of a few genetic genetic markers they have (the test however is far from being comprehensive). Shivom is in the market empowering people to buy and sell their genetic data to fund drug development specifically. The incumbents in this space are typically referred to as clinical research facilities. None are large or wide-reaching in scale, because they've typically operated in a specific geographic area, as opposed to being able to gather data from wider range of samples from people around the world. DNASimple is trying to change that by essentially mailing kits to people when the individuals get flagged for heaving a trait that one of DNASimple's clients would like a sample of. It's progressive no doubt, but still limited in scope and they've only had limited success

Conclusion

Shivom is entering a market where their clients (drug companies) have a lot of money to spend because consumers demand it. The consumer benefits greatly here as well as part of Shivom's ecosystem since they get financially rewarded for providing their genomic data to drug companies for medical testing; a good cause no doubt. Given the lack of competition from incumbents here, and Shivom ecosystem that will allow them to scale far more effectively, it's possible they could end up getting quite big.