PrecisionMed Inc. and Phenomenome Discoveries Inc. Announce a Collaboration in the Discovery of Diagnostic Markers in Alzheimer's Disease and Bipolar Disorder

February 04, 2005 08:00 AM US Eastern Timezone
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SAN DIEGO & SASKATOON, Canada--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2005 --

PrecisionMed Inc. and Phenomenome Discoveries Inc. (PDI) are pleased to announce the undertaking of a collaboration to develop non-invasive diagnostics for Alzheimer's disease and bipolar disorder using PrecisionMed's clinical samples and information, and PDI's proprietary diagnostics discovery and testing platform.

PDI's metabolomics-based technology enables the discovery of metabolites that differ between healthy controls and people with Alzheimer's disease and bipolar disorder. Such diagnostic metabolites can be used for the early detection of disease, as well as to optimize and measure response to treatment regimes.

"The scientific value of genetic samples is a direct function of the validity and depth of the associated clinical phenotypic information," said John Flax, M.D., President of PrecisionMed. "Due to reliance on clinical diagnostic classification in neuropsychiatric disease, accurate diagnosis and relevant data collection are critical. This collaboration with Phenomenome, utilizing their proprietary metabolomics platform, is an example of the potential for PrecisionMed's range and depth of samples to contribute directly to the discovery of biomarkers for these and other diseases."

"At PDI, we are confident that our technology will contribute to the search for better diagnostics for neurological disorders, and to advancing biological understanding of these disorders," says John Hyshka, COO and co-founder of Phenomenome Discoveries. "The importance of well-collected and properly consented samples together with detailed clinical data is paramount in such an endeavor, and we are very pleased to rely on PrecisionMed's expertise in this arena."


PrecisionMed Inc.
PrecisionMed Inc., founded in 1994, is a privately held human biobank in the San Diego, California area. Its sample bank is a repository of human blood, DNA, RNA, serum, plasma, urine and CSF linked to de-identified audited clinical data. Samples are available to the pharmaceutical industry to enhance drug discovery and development, therapeutic target validation and molecular diagnostic product development. PrecisionMed provides customers access to samples with associated clinical information from a population of disease-specific subjects and healthy matched controls. PrecisionMed is rapidly expanding its collections to include additional neuropsychiatric and other diseases. PrecisionMed offers custom sample collections in any disease area.

Phenomenome Discoveries Inc.
Phenomenome Discoveries Inc. is a privately owned company located in Saskatoon, Canada. Processing samples since December 2000, Phenomenome is the first company in the world to make non-targeted metabolomic investigation of complex biological samples commercially available using its proprietary DISCOVAmetrics(TM) metabolite analysis and informatics platform. Phenomenome has in-house and collaborative research programs in human health, pharmacometabolomics, and agriculture.

Contacts: PrecisionMed, San Diego John Flax, M.D. 858-847-0117 or Phenomenome Discoveries Inc. Ms. Alix Hayden or Mr. John Hyshka 306-244-8233 www.phenomenome.com