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Partnership for a microbiome diagnostics platform to detect precancerous colon polyps announced
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Prescient Medicine Holdings LLC and Metabiomics Corp. have announced a joint venture to develop a microbiome diagnostics platform for detecting precancerous colon polyps and diagnosing other types of gastrointestinal diseases, according to a company press release.
“These simple yet incredibly powerful tools will dramatically change the equation when it comes to earlier identification of precancerous conditions, leading to early treatment decisions, reduced costs and better outcomes,” Keri Donaldson, founder and CEO of Prescient Medicine, said in the release.
According to the release, the assays apply Metabiomics’ MultiTag Next-Generation Sequencing and microbiome analytics platform to detect warning signs of polyps and carcinogenesis in the colon. Additionally, the tests are designed to provide health care practitioners with simple and cost-effective precision molecular diagnostic solutions for Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome.
The release indicates that tests are expected to be available in 2020.
“The interrogation of the gut microbiome in order to assess GI health and predict colon cancer risk is a total game changer,” Greg Kuehn, COO of Metabiomics, said in the release. “Gastroenterologists have known for a long time that gut microbes are associated with GI disease. Now we’re finally applying these new metagenomics tools to analyze gut microbial DNA and bringing our understanding of GI disease to a new level.”
According to the release, colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the world, and more than 750,000 people die of the disease each year.
The partnership, according to Thomas J. Kuehn, PhD, chairman and CEO of Metabiomics, will help to improve the quality of life of patients and reduce the morbidity and mortality of colon cancer.
“This test will save lives by making it much easier and far less costly to get screened for colon cancer,” Kuehn said.