On Oct. 18, 2023, an industry-academic initiative was announced that aimed to create the largest ever database of genomes exclusively from people with African ancestry.

Four biopharma companies contributed $80 million and have teamed up with Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee to launch the effort, which hopes to recruit up to 500,000 African Americans and people from Africa and combine their DNA and medical data into a biobank for health studies.