The Metrodora Institute has opened the doors of its medical and research center in Salt Lake City, giving biopharma companies a new neuroimmune drug development and clinical trial partner in Utah.
Metrodora is carrying out a wide range of work at the site. The facility aims to see 20,000 patients with neuroimmune axis disorders— chronic illnesses that cause dysfunctional interactions across multiple body systems—every year and improve their treatment by bringing down barriers between medical specialists. But the site also has one foot in the world of research.
As already happens at other hospitals, patients who visit Metrodora will be able to contribute biological samples and data to research and participate in clinical trials. One of the main goals is to build a biobank and high-density data repository focused on the neuroimmune axis disorder space.
“Access to high-quality patient samples and high-density data is critical for making the scientific breakthroughs required to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of complex diseases,” James Hemp, Ph.D., chief science officer at Metrodora, said in a statement. “By providing researchers with access to essential high-density data, and ensuring that their work is informed by real-world clinical experience, we believe we can advance treatments and discover cures faster.”
Metrodora will make the patient data and biobank samples available to biopharma partners through its nonprofit research arm, the Metrodora Foundation. Partnerships with at least seven organizations are already in place, although details of exactly how Metrodora is supporting them are sparse. The current list skews towards diagnostics but features two drug developers.
Metrodora is one of eight sites where argenx, working with CRO partner Iqvia, is enrolling patients with post-COVID-19 postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome to receive the anti-FcRn antibody fragment efgartigimod. The drug is sold as Vyvgart for the treatment of myasthenia gravis. Metrodora also listed Cour, a biotech perhaps best known for its ties to Takeda, as a partner without providing further details.