NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Medical data research

company Truveta said on Monday that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ( REGN )

, Illumina ( ILMN ) and 17 U.S. health systems will take

a $320 million stake in the company as part of a deal to build

the world's largest genetic database.

The deal values privately held Truveta at more than $1

billion, it said. Biotechnology company Regeneron pledged to put

in $120 million and genetic sequencing company Illumina ( ILMN )

is investing $20 million.

The rest will come from U.S. health systems including New

York-based Northwell Health, multi-state non-profit Trinity

Health and Advocate Health, based in Chicago.

The project aims to accumulate 10 million genomic sequences

relatively quickly, a move the parties said would accelerate

drug discovery and transform patient care.

"This is knowledge we just don't have," said Truveta CEO

Terry Myerson. "We don't know today why some people get lung

cancer and have never smoked. We spend billions of dollars a

year in colonoscopies on people that will never get colon

cancer."

Genetic sequencing can help indicate patient predispositions

for diseases like Alzheimer's and sickle cell, aiding in drug

development, or identify mutations associated with cancer or

other diseases that a particular drug may target effectively.

"The scale and diversity of the Truveta Genome Project will

enable us to explore the complex interplay between genetics and

health in unprecedented detail," Regeneron executive Aris Baras,

said in a press release.

During routine lab tests, the project's healthcare partners

will ask patients to consent to analysis of their leftover

specimens and link them to anonymous medical records. Regeneron

will sequence the genomes.

The genetic data will then be stored with Truveta Data to

support biological analysis.

Myerson expects the project to eventually have more patient

diversity than the two largest existing genetic databases, the

U.S. National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program

and the UK Biobank. Those databases represent 850,000 and

500,000 participants, respectively, according to their websites.

When entities pay Truveta to use its anonymous patient

data, the company will reimburse providers. "That reimbursement

provides an economic incentive for them to make the project

work," the CEO said.

Technology giant and previous Truveta investor Microsoft ( MSFT )

will provide the project with cloud storage through its

Azure software, according to the release.