Metabolomics in personalized health
The development of highly specific and sensitive biomarkers is a prime requirement for personalized medicine. One mainstay of the Biocrates business model is to put its cutting-edge metabolomics technology and expertise to use to discover such biomarkers and develop them into diagnostic tests.
Measurable changes in the concentration of metabolites in biofluids or tissues can be used to detect changes in health or disease states. This approach lies at the foundation of metabolomics, which uses a combination of high-resolution spectroscopy and multivariate statistical methods providing information on hundreds of metabolites–all at the same time. By comparing ‘healthy’ and ‘diseased’ samples, biomarker panels can be identified that will later not only help differentiate between health and disease but will be able to spot any deviation from normal well before the disease becomes manifest.
Biomarker development, much like the development of new drugs, runs through several phases, from selecting an indication to screening biomarker candidates, picking those that will be included in the biomarker panel, validating the panel both internally and externally, and, finally, develop it into a diagnostic test. Biocrates has already prioritized diagnostic and medical areas with high unmet needs. This has lead to a pipeline of metabolomic biomarkers for 5 diagnostic indications, i.e., diabetes, kidney disease, sepsis, stroke, and cancer.
