Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a precision obesity biotechnology company, announces the launch of its biobanking registry and outcomes study. The registry will evaluate variability in obesity treatment response by collecting patients’ DNA, metabolomics, hormones, and behavioral assessments, in relation to treatment outcomes. The data collected will supplement the 20 billion unique data points that make up the Phenomix Sciences Obesity Platform. Mayo Clinic is the first to enroll in the registry and is expected to contribute patient outcomes from 2,000 patients undergoing obesity treatment.
Also Read: EpiVax and Massachusetts General Hospital Advance on T cell-Targeted Epitope Vaccine for Q Fever
The biobanking registry is a critical milestone in Phenomix’s mission to conquer obesity by creating unprecedented access to clinical and molecular data throughout all stages of the disease. Outcomes data from biobanks across the registry will supplement Phenomix’s database of biological and clinical data matched to the four obesity phenotypes. Insights generated from the database are being used to develop the company’s first therapy selection test, the first of its kind in the obesity space.
A growing body of evidence indicates that obesity is not a single disease with a single treatment type, but a constellation of diseases. Obesity’s roots lie in an individual’s DNA; however, evidence suggests there is a complicated web connecting obesity to age, race, gender, education, and socioeconomic status. Understanding a person’s obesity phenotype — the combination of genes with environmental and behavioral factors — can help pinpoint the cause of weight gain. Phenomix’s technology is based on research from its physician founders, Drs. Acosta and Camilleri of Mayo Clinic. Their research has demonstrated that when phenotyped and prescribed the right medications, patients can achieve up to twice the weight loss of those not phenotyped.
In addition to creating the first biobanking registry of this type, this is the first large scale study of variability in response in patients with obesity treated with a variety of interventions. The biobank registry’s impact has the potential to change the obesity ecosystem from treatment recommendations to the way payers determine coverage and how industry combines diagnostics testing with drug therapy.