Jan 27 2011
Memphis-based Computable Genomix today announced that it has secured an investment to pilot a novel process for developing genetic biomarker tests.
Biomarkers are used to predict how a person will respond to drug therapy or to determine their risk of contracting a disease.
Leveraging its next-generation computational discovery capability (patent-pending), Computable Genomix is developing highly targeted genetic biomarker tests for clinical researchers. These tests will help address pressing pharmacogenomic and other clinical questions and enhance the ability of physicians to bring personalized medicine to their patients.
“Current approaches to genetic biomarker development require clinical researchers to work with thousands of patient samples and sift through millions of possibilities to pinpoint a handful of potential biomarkers for further evaluation,” said Brad Silver, chief executive officer of Computable Genomix. “Using Computable’s very targeted tests, clinical researchers need fewer patient samples to assess a small number of high-value biomarkers. The end result is savings of time and money.”
Memphis-based venture capital firm Innova is funding Computable’s effort to stake a claim in the exploding, multi-billion dollar biomarker market “As an incubator company at the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, we have closely followed the evolution of Computable Genomix from a supplier of software to a developer of proprietary biomarker tests,” said Innova partner Jan Bouten. “We are very excited about Computable’s opportunity in the burgeoning biomarker market and its prospects for accelerating their use in clinical practice.”
Speaking to the company’s new business model, Silver said, “after supplying our software to several leading research institutions, we quickly recognized that development of biomarkers is the best way to extract maximum value from our very powerful discovery capability. Once we identified this opportunity, it came down to building and funding the biomarker development process.”
Source: http://www.computablegenomix.com/