Arboretum LifeSciences, Inc., a next-generation molecular information company, launched today with a mission to make precision medicine a reality for some of the most common diseases that impact patients around the world. Founded by leaders in data science from the Broad Institute, Arboretum’s approach integrates AI and genetic testing to expand access to genomic medicine for patients and enable recruitment of genomically profiled patients for clinical research partners.

“We started Arboretum to solve one of the biggest problems in therapeutics development: identifying genetically-defined populations that will have outsized benefit from common disease therapies,” said Anthony Philippakis, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Arboretum and general partner at GV. “Twenty years ago, the field of oncology opted to leverage molecular information to find therapies that would treat smaller populations but have more transformative outcomes than general chemotoxic agents. This is a moment in time to make a similar bet on diseases like coronary artery disease, diabetes, and neurodegeneration. The goal of Arboretum is to build the scientific and operational infrastructure that turns that thesis into better therapies.”

Next-Generation Molecular Information Model Applied to Common Diseases

Precision medicine has transformed cancer and rare disease care, but progress in common diseases such as cardiovascular, metabolic, and autoimmune conditions has lagged for more than two decades. Despite enormous investment, drug development in these areas continues to rely on one-size-fits-all clinical trials, resulting in large, costly studies with modest-to-average efficacy and high late-stage failure rates.

Arboretum operates as an AI-native molecular information company that partners with both healthcare systems and biopharma. For health systems, Arboretum provides clinical genetic testing and a collaborative research network. That network benefits participants by identifying patients that are at risk for preventable diseases and returning actionable genomic findings to them; it benefits healthcare systems by enabling precision clinical trials and genomic medicine. Similarly, Arboretum benefits therapeutics developers by enabling genomically stratified clinical development and new models of commercialization. Together, these efforts become the bridge between developing new therapies and seeing them implemented in practice, with a goal of catalyzing a learning healthcare system.

“Our focus is on building a durable and actionable research network that places patients at the center,” said Clare Bernard, Ph.D., president of Arboretum. “Improving patient care is our utmost goal. By engaging patients in research, and designing clinical trials around the biological signal of each patient rather than population averages, we give patients better therapeutic options and create the clinical evidence needed for tomorrow’s diagnostics and therapeutics.”

There is an urgent need in biopharma to generate genomic and longitudinal clinical datasets that will inform how new medicines are developed and tested. Meeting this need depends on having large, fully-genotyped cohorts of research participants consented for recontact. Arboretum’s research network is designed to support the broad needs of drug development: target discovery, novel stratification techniques for trial design, efficient trial matching capabilities, and new commercialization models, including the creation of novel capital-efficient drug development companies.

“Drug developers in common diseases have historically had limited access to the large-scale genomic and clinical datasets critical to helping understand differences in disease biology and translate genetic insights into potential new treatment options,” said Michael Montalto, Ph.D., Vice President, Precision Medicine, Amgen. “Arboretum is building a bridge from molecular information to real therapeutic impact, helping deepen our understanding of disease biology and supporting development of the next generation of precision medicines.”

Initial Healthcare System Partnerships to Enable Precision Medicine at Scale

Arboretum has established initial partnerships with leading healthcare delivery partners, including Advocate Health, Geisinger, Providence Healthcare, and Cardiovascular Associates of America (CVA) to support the scalable adoption of clinically-indicated genetic testing and the creation of longitudinal molecular registries. Through these collaborations, Arboretum will work with healthcare providers to integrate genetic testing into routine clinical care, expanding access to precision medicine and generating high-quality molecular and clinical diagnostics that support ongoing patient care, research, and clinical trial enrollment.

Each of these collaborations are tailored to meet the system’s unique needs. For example, to support Advocate Health’s growing national cardiogenetic service line, best-in-class genetic testing will be provided via a teleconsult model and support the Advocate CV Genetics Registry. At Geisinger, Arboretum will provide clinical genetic testing to support its class-leading MyCode-Connect by integrating clinical-grade genomic results into its biobank to expand precision care, accelerate discovery and clinical trials, and advance Geisinger’s value-based care model. With Providence, Arboretum will provide clinical genetic testing and research infrastructure that integrates with existing research registries to provide a sustainable research model that supports future clinical trials. For CVA, point-of-care genetic testing is being made available for the first time to their growing specialty practice network as guidelines expand to recognize clinical indications and their own research infrastructure matures.

By placing patients at the center of both care and research, these partnerships turn genetic testing from a one-time diagnostic into a lasting benefit, improving care today, opening the door to research that could help patients tomorrow, and building the evidence for better therapies in common diseases.

“Precision medicine has enormous potential for patients with common diseases, but healthcare systems need scalable ways to integrate genetic testing into routine care,” said Terry Gilliland, President and CEO of Geisinger. “Our partnership with Arboretum allows us to expand access to clinically indicated genetic testing while contributing to high-quality molecular and clinical data that can improve patient care today and accelerate research and clinical trials for the future.”

Backed by Leading Life Sciences Investors and Distinguished Team

Arboretum is launching with $30 million in Series A financing, led by F-Prime, GV, .406 Ventures, Hims & Hers, Amgen and other premier healthcare investors. The company was founded by leaders from the Broad Institute’s Data Sciences Platform, bringing deep experience in large-scale genomics, AI, clinical data infrastructure, registry development, human subjects research compliance, and translating molecular insights into real-world impact.

About Arboretum

Arboretum is a next-generation molecular information company built to make precision medicine a reality for common diseases. By generating and integrating molecular and clinical data, Arboretum enables better clinical trial design, more efficient patient enrollment, and new models for biopharma collaboration and company creation. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit us at arboretum.bio and follow us on LinkedIn and X. For more information about Arboretum’s genetic testing, please visit arboretumclinical.com.

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