WellnessFX and Petrichor Analytics Introduce Home Testing Kit for Advanced Blood Chemistry and Hormone Testing, Genetics and Microbiome Analysis for More than 4 Million Thorne Research and WellnessFX Customers

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WellnessFX, a science-based and physician-guided personalized wellness company, today announced the completion of its home testing kit and launch of its pilot program, in partnership with Petrichor Analytics, which enable blood, saliva, and stool sampling for blood chemistry, genetics, and microbiome analysis. This strategic expansion of its data-driven, health solutions platform will allow WellnessFX to provide personalized and accurate dietary, lifestyle and supplemental recommendations to its customer base of more than 25,000 physicians and 4 million plus Thorne Research and WellnessFX customers.

Deploying the most advanced science related to blood chemistry (metabolites, proteins, hormones, etc.), genetics, and microbiome analysis, these home testing kits represent the next generation of patient testing and analytics, and the future of medicine. With them, WellnessFX and Petrichor Analytics will be able to generate predictive, preventative, and actionable information with personalized telehealth coaching, while operating under an Institutional Review Board (IRB). This will improve health outcomes for healthy individuals who want to manage their wellness and help individuals with illnesses who want to optimize their well-being.

These home testing kits will also benefit fitness enthusiasts and amateur and professional athletes who want to improve their general fitness or personalize and optimize their training. In fact, several professional basketball and football teams, as well as elite CrossFit athletes and teams, are already using these home testing kits.

"With healthcare moving towards the home, we believe that developing this new medical testing capability and building it into our product platform is a true disruption in the nutritional supplement market," said Paul Jacobson, CEO of Thorne Research and WellnessFX.  "As a company with a 30 year track record, it's disheartening to see many selling supplements to consumers without any connection to their actual medical or health needs. In some cases, supplements are being recommended and sold based largely on irrelevant lifestyle magazine-style quizzes."

Advanced Science Brings Robust Heath Analytics to the Home
The WellnessFX microbiome profile is built upon a strong foundation with specimens sent to the Mayo Clinic, where precision DNA extraction and purification is assured.  The purified DNA is then analyzed according to strict, advanced standards at the University of Illinois Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center. There, a combined Fluidigm+MiSeq protocol is employed to sequence up to 384 different metagenomic 16S rRNA gene samples (or any other amplicon) against up to 24 different genes/targets. This process uses a streamlined and repeatable microfluidics process that minimizes PCR errors and cross-contamination while maximizing the potential understanding of the mixed communities being studied. 

 "These highly reliable and convenient home testing kits provide unprecedented access to vital information that will improve the quality of life for everyone using them," said Bryan White, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Petrichor Analytics and Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. "By combining Petrichor Analytics' microbiome and WellnessFXs' current biometric panels, we are providing physicians and other healthcare professionals, along with their patients, with home sampling capabilities that will enable them to best determine the nutritional therapeutics, and supportive products that are most likely to deliver real health benefits."

Comprehensive machine learning analytics are applied to identify the unique patterns of each sample. The WellnessFX microbiome profile also includes a novel option to profile the metabolome of the microbiome. Unlike other microbiome profiles, this allows WellnessFX to assess the microbiome for the structure of the bacterial communities. It also evaluates the biochemical landscape that reveals what is happening at the molecular level.

"By expanding our ability to offer telehealth physician consultations to arrive at the best health and wellness solutions based on scientific test results, our home testing kit is another example of our market leadership in the medical analytics and supplement spaces. This platform simply makes it easier for people to own their health and take actionable steps to make improvements," Jacobson explains.

About WellnessFX
WellnessFX is a breakthrough web-based service that empowers individuals to understand and improve their health in a personalized and engaging way. By combining direct-to-consumer access to advanced blood tests, phone-based consultations with progressive health practitioners, and intuitive data tracking, our customers are able to identify and reverse potential health risks long before symptoms appear.

With WellnessFX, you get direct access to twice the biomarkers traditional blood tests offer, giving you the tools and knowledge you need to improve. Measure your cardiovascular, metabolic, hormonal, and nutritional health with a simple blood draw. Spend 20 minutes with a WellnessFX practitioner of your choice, scheduled at a time convenient to you. Refer to your personal mobile or desktop health dashboard to track your progress and read practitioner recommendations.

As medicine and technology expand, WellnessFX is dedicated to providing you the tools you need to optimize your health.

About Thorne Research
Thorne Research is a global healthcare company dedicated to improving the health and wellness of people through science and technology. With a portfolio of trusted, quality, science-based offerings in nutritional supplements and lifestyle management, Thorne Research serves people around the world, targeting a number of health areas, such as cardiovascular health, metabolic health, cancer supportive care, skin care, healthy aging, and sports performance. Thorne Research is headquartered in New York City with a manufacturing facility in Sandpoint, Idaho. Please visit www.thorne.com for the latest news and more information about Thorne Research.

About Petrichor Analytics
Petrichor Analytics, LLC provides expertise in bio-medical science, microbiome research, advanced data analytics, information visualization, high performance computing, and software development.  Their experience and capabilities match closely with Wellness FXs objectives in the wellness and performance domain.  Petrichor Analytics provides precise high resolution untargeted and targeted microbiome analysis that covers the community structure of all microbial domains of life.  Petrichor Analytics also specializes in advanced analytics for predictive modeling.  Teaming with Wellness FX, Petrichor Analytics will integrate microbiome data with phenotype, blood chemistry and other omics data using their machine learning platform to identify important complex patterns and provide actionable intelligence.

SOURCE WellnessFX