NEW YORK – Biomedical startup company Phenomix Sciences said on Tuesday that it has signed an exclusive technology licensing agreement with the Mayo Clinic for a blood test to predict obesity phenotypes.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The multiomics MyPhenome test uses technology developed at the Mayo Clinic to analyze a person's genomic, metabolomic, and hormone profile, and uses artificial intelligence-driven algorithms to identify which one of four specific obesity phenotypes the person fits: Hungry Brain, a defect of satiation; Hungry Gut, a defect of satiety; Emotional Hunger, emotional reward from eating; or Slow Burn, a defect in energy expenditure.
This is meant to give doctors the ability to more precisely prescribe anti-obesity treatments, Phenomix said. The company anticipates launching MyPhenome before the end of 2021.
"There is simply no more pressing challenge facing healthcare providers today than the treatment of obesity, as it is an underlying condition of so many physical and mental health complications," Phenomix CEO Mark Bagnall said in a statement. "But until now, obesity treatment has centered around ineffective one-size-fits-all therapies. Phenomix founders have invested decades of research to discover a new way to classify obesity using each patient's unique phenotype, resulting in precision treatment."