Established as a public benefit corporation and named a 2019 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, LunaPBC™ was formed to engage individuals directly to permission their health data for discovery and deliver privacy, transparency, control, and choice in the data sharing relationship. To operationalize this new paradigm, they created LunaDNA™, the first people-powered and member-owned digital repository to organize medical, DNA, real-world, and social-determinants data online. Everyone in the LunaDNA community brings unique value to the platform and everyone shares in the value created.
Build exemplary communities for health discovery
We engage diverse populations, promote them from subjects to partners, and match
them with researchers.
Transform shared life data into actionable insights
We combine enriched life data with innovative analysis tools in a secure platform to accelerate discovery.
Empower people to live longer, healthier lives
We enable families and friends to live and enjoy their lives more by harnessing life data for good.
In today’s data intensive world, many of the products we use produce digital insights about our unique self—from retail data tracking our shopping habits to wearables that stream exercise and biometric data—revealing clues about our quality of life and disease predispositions. Access to our DNA information is also readily available at relatively low costs to help diagnose disease or trace our ancestry.
This new era of deep and broad “life data” prompts new questions about health, the information shared within families, and the impact of our environment on our well-being. Unprecedented opportunities in genomics, big data, and artificial intelligence are upon us to discover world-changing solutions, particularly in healthcare. And as the subjects of the data being generated, people are all at the center of it.
In October 2017, a team of genomic and health executives, passionate about social responsibility, united with the goal of moving people to the center of research and health discovery. They saw the long-standing problem of individuals being disconnected and treated as subjects of research versus partners in discovery. They wanted to make individual data privacy and control a priority, in an age when people’s data was being bought and sold regularly.
They believed that operating in a people-first framework was not only the right thing to do, but the best way to pursue health discovery.
“Nothing is more personal than our health and DNA data. LunaDNA, in a precedent-setting move, is enabling individuals to own shares in the company that creates value from the data collective. This data paradigm enables people to control their inclusion in the system, learn about studies undertaken with the database, celebrate discoveries, and participate in the financial rewards that come from partnerships,” said Bob Kain, CEO and co-founder, LunaPBC.
A healthier world with people at the center of discovery.
IN DECEMBER 2018 LunaDNA’s shares-for-data offering was qualified by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reward members with equity in the company.
Nonprofits, for-profits, disease organizations, and research communities will be able to query the LunaDNA platform for discovery studies. Member’s de-identified and aggregated health data will power research at the scope and scale needed for medical breakthroughs. While maintaining anonymity and only with opt-in contact consent, LunaDNA members may also receive communications from researchers interested in including them in a specific research study or trial.
I believe the future of discovery and people’s data will be sideways not siloed, connected not dictated, socially responsible and transparent—we will engage everyday people responsibly to permission their health data to help crack the code in genomics and beyond.”
– Dawn barry, president and co-founder, lunapbc
