PredictImmune, a U.K.-based developer of diagnostics, secured $5.9 million (£4.3 million) in funding from the Wellcome Trust that will be used for a multisite clinical trial of its prognostic biomarker test for treatment guidance related to Crohn’s disease.
The company’s biomarker test is a simple whole blood test based on genetic markers that provides a first diagnosis of disease and can predict the course it may take with a patient, thus identifying patients likely to experience a severe, relapsing form of the disease.
The study, which is dubbed PROFILE, is the third study to use the biological principles of the prognostic test, and it is designed to evaluate the ability of PredictImmune’s test to guide treatment choices between standard therapies and first line use of biologic immunomodulator drugs, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, the company said.
“The efficient and effective management of Crohn’s disease is crucial to patients’ long-term well-being,” Andrew Sandham, PredictImmune’s executive chairman, said in a statement. “This prognostic tool accurately identifies patients, at diagnosis, who are at risk of experiencing severe, relapsing disease and who are therefore likely to benefit from early biologics therapy.”
A year ago, PredictImmune raised $6.4 million (£4.7 million) in series A funding for the commercial development of laboratory services and diagnostic kits for routine use in clinical gastroenterology in Europe and the U.S.