Co-founder and CEO of Dante Labs, Andrea Riposati, was recently interviewed by Logan Plaster of Health Moonshot Update. This intriguing and informative interview was published on the Startup Health YouTube channel. Logan Plaster asks some tough questions, and Andrea Riposati is excited to answer them comprehensively and transparently.
Real-World Applications of Genome Testing
Andrea Riposati begins by sharing the story of a recent client named Angela. Angela had been struggling for over 25 years, seeing multiple doctors but never receiving a precise diagnosis of her condition. Although she had taken a handful of traditional genetic tests, there was no insight into her problem. After finding Dante Labs and having her entire genome sequenced, and receiving personalized reports based on her medical history, Angela received a precise diagnosis of her rare disease.
Recognition of Another Obligation
When Angela reached out to Dante Labs in gratitude, it was with a somber spirit. She felt happy to have the diagnosis finally but was experiencing a feeling of being doomed because of it. That was when Andrea Riposati and his team realized they had a further obligation to clients: going from diagnostics to therapeutics. This recognition inspired Dante Labs to work with drug companies to help accelerate the science behind genome testing by saving lives with therapeutics.
From Austere Beginnings to $100M in Revenue
In the beginning, Andrea Riposati explains to Logan Plaster, Dante Labs wasn’t “Dante Labs.” Riposati says, “There was no lab, just people in an office. We didn’t have a lot of startup capital to work with, so we outsourced the lab work. However, from the very beginning, our commitment was to invest everything back into the company.” That choice enabled the company to build its lab, where it conducted genome sequencing in-house. This led to obtaining funding from various sources to scale the business.
A Global Outreach
From the start, Dante Labs has had a global perspective. They have sequenced the entire population of two Pacific Islands and have a foothold in 97 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Italy, and the EU. They have received a nod of approval and funding from the Italian Ministry to bring genome sequencing to the citizens of Italy.
Working With the Medical Community
Genome sequencing on an individual level is still permeating the medical community. Not all medical providers in every country know the capabilities and how to leverage them in patient care. Andrea Riposati expressed a belief that will change as time goes on. “Currently, a million people access the platform annually. We hope to have millions of people get genome testing every month in the future,” he says. And when that does happen, Dante Labs is ready with the platform and the expertise to service the population.