Genomics England Selects Cognizant as a Technology Partner for the Department of Health's 100,000 Genomes Project

Enables Genomics Industry to Investigate Causes of Diseases, Provide Diagnoses and Treatment 

LONDON, Nov. 4, 2015 /CNW/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) today announced that Genomics England, a wholly owned company of the Department of Health, has selected Cognizant as a technology partner to help design and implement the IT operating environment for the 100,000 Genomes Project.  

The 100,000 Genomes Project aims to sequence 100,000 whole genomes from NHS patients and their families, of which around 70,000 are participants with certain types of cancer or rare diseases. The project aims to enable new scientific discovery, medical insights and diagnostics. When completed, the NHS will be able to offer genomic medicine and personalised treatments to patients with conditions that are currently hard to treat.

As part of a two-year agreement, Cognizant will help provide end-to-end systems integration and analytics services for the technology platform built by Genomics England. This will enable Genomics England to augment its capability and capacity to process samples and interpret findings. An improved technology backbone supported by advanced analytics will also help Genomics England optimise its business processes and simplify the management and analysis of clinical, laboratory and health data.

"Combining genomic sequence data with medical records is a ground-breaking initiative. Researchers will study how best to use genomics in healthcare and interpret the data to help patients," said David Brown, Head of Informatics Infrastructure, Genomics England. "We selected Cognizant for its extensive life sciences capabilities, knowledge of research, management and analysis of clinical data sets, and experience in working with the UK public sector organisations."

"Large-scale sequencing initiatives like the UK's 100,000 Genomes Project require a flexible, secure operating platform to help drive innovation in new diagnostic and treatment options for patients and healthcare providers," said Bhaskar Sambasivan, Vice President of Cognizant's Life Sciences practice. "Our culture of investing in understanding our customers' businesses, deep programme management expertise in the healthcare and life sciences industry, and robust system integration and business analytics capabilities enable us to deliver a broad range of solutions for Genomics England as it creates genome sequences and clinical data at an unprecedented scale."

About Genomics England
Genomics England is a company owned by the Department of Health and was set up to deliver the 100,000 Genomes Project.  This flagship project will sequence 100,000 whole genomes from NHS patients and their families by 2017.

Genomics England has four main aims:

• to bring benefit to patients
• to create an ethical and transparent programme based on consent
• to enable new scientific discovery and medical insights
• to kick-start the development of a UK genomics industry

The project focuses on patients with rare diseases, and their families, as well as patients with common cancers. Visit us online at www.genomicsengland.co.uk or follow us on Twitter: @genomicsengland.

About Cognizant's Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice
Cognizant's Healthcare and Life Sciences practice is committed to helping change millions of lives for the better by partnering with clients to build solutions to healthcare challenges, continually improve the way they do business, set the pace in clinical development, strengthen their regulatory infrastructure, and increase competitiveness. With approximately $3.5 billion in annualized revenue, Cognizant's healthcare practice is consistently ranked among the top 10 on the Healthcare Informatics Top 100. Cognizant serves 28 of the top 30 global pharmaceutical companies, 16 of the top 20 health plans in the U.S., three of the top five pharmacy benefit management companies in the U.S., nine of the top ten biotech companies, and 12 of the top 15 medical device companies. With a large team of dedicated professionals including doctors, pharmacologists, physicians, biomedical engineers, pharmacists, biostatisticians, medical writers, and GxP consultants, the practice provides domain-aligned consulting, IT, business process and analytics solutions globally.

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 100 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 219,300 employees as of September 30, 2015, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

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For further information: Europe: Grazia Valentino-Boschi, + 33 (0)6 07 85 80 63, [email protected]; or U.S.: Rick Lacroix, [phone], [email protected]; or Asia-Pac: Harsh Kabra, [phone], [email protected], http://www.cognizant.com