Genomics plc and GSK establish precision medicine collaboration to assess polygenic risk scores in clinical trial design

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Apr 30, 2024, 09:07 ET

The collaboration, across multiple therapeutic areas, will evaluate how polygenic risk scores could be used to improve clinical trial design and efficiency

OXFORD, England, April 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Genomics plc and GSK announced a new collaboration to explore the potential for using polygenic risk scores (PRS) in clinical trials, to improve understanding of disease risk and patient selection, which could support optimisation of trial design. Genomics plc is a global leader in PRS-powered technologies and approaches and has developed extensive genetic databases and algorithms to understand the genetic component of diseases.

Genomics plc and GSK will investigate several applications for Genomics' suite of PRS-powered tools, including the potential for PRS tools to reduce the number of trial participants and shortening study timescales and improving outcomes of both proof-of-concept and pivotal trials.

Professor Sir Peter Donnelly FRS, FMedSci, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Genomics plc:
"We could not be more excited to be collaborating with GSK on this programme. PRS-based approaches have the potential to support clinical trial design. Using PRS to get the right people into studies could have a potential positive impact, including in the reduction of trial size and timescale, leading to efficiencies in drug development."

Genetic factors play a key role in disease susceptibility, progression, and response to drugs. These effects are often a result of many thousands of genetic changes that can be captured as a single number or PRS. This work will explore the opportunity for PRS-based approaches to support patient selection, and understand how that may impact clinical trials through reducing the number of patients recruited or shortening the duration of trials.

Robert Scott, Vice President of Human Genetics and Genomics at GSK: "Genomics plc is leading in both the development and real-world application of PRS-based approaches, opening up new frontiers in genomic medicine. At GSK, we have demonstrated the opportunity for genetics to guide drug discovery and development; I look forward to working with Genomics plc to further explore the potential for PRS to support clinical trial design."

About Genomics plc

Genomics plc is a pioneering healthcare company that aims to transform health through the power of genomics. In 2014, Professor Sir Peter Donnelly and three colleagues founded Genomics plc, spinning it out of the University of Oxford. The company, which now employs more than one hundred people in the UK and the US, has an extensive data platform and cutting-edge analytical technology to enable prevention-first approaches to individual and population health. Genomics plc is the global leader in PRS-powered technology. Its powerful risk prediction tools can get more of the right people into the appropriate screening, diagnosis, and treatment pathways they need. Genomics' core technology also supports a suite of products for the life sciences sector, enabling the successful discovery and validation of new drug targets, optimized clinical trial design and efficiency, and the development of novel companion diagnostics. For additional information about Genomics plc, please visit www.genomicsplc.com

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BAM for Genomics plc: [email protected]

SOURCE Genomics plc