Prescient Metabiomics and CoreBiome collaborating to develop breakthrough colon cancer screening test

CARLSBAD, Calif., Dec. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Prescient Metabiomics, a subsidiary of Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc., and CoreBiome, a wholly owned subsidiary of OraSure Technologies, Inc., announced today a collaboration to develop a new test called LifeKit® Prevent, which may represent a microbiome-driven paradigm shift in colon cancer screening. 

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men and in women, and the second most common cause of cancer deaths when men and women are combined.  Yet, there is a lack of non-invasive screening tests that can accurately detect precancerous polyps as effectively as a colonoscopy.   The current standard of care for colon cancer prevention is in-clinic screening via colonoscopy, but approximately 1 in 3 patients are not up-to-date with their necessary colon cancer screenings. Research indicates that early detection of precancerous adenomas and carcinomas could lead to significantly better patient outcomes. 

To help address this issue, Prescient Metabiomics is developing a unique assay for predicting precancerous adenomas and carcinomas that uses microbial biomarkers as a diagnostic platform.  Prescient Metabiomics has teamed up with CoreBiome to utilize shotgun metagenomics DNA sequencing, machine learning and AI-driven microbiome analytics to accelerate their development pipeline.  

About the Colon Cancer Microbiome Diagnostics Collaboration
"CoreBiome's DNA sequencing platform and innovative bioinformatics methods for data analysis will be critical for development of the LifeKit® Prevent test," said Prescient Medicine CEO Dr. Keri Donaldson. "Prescient Metabiomics will leverage CoreBiome's discovery platform to accelerate development and validation through the FDA's Breakthrough Devices Program."

"CoreBiome is committed to producing ultra-high-quality data at very large scales and helping customers perform data mining for clinical biomarkers. We are excited to help Prescient Metabiomics move into the clinic faster by combining our precisely controlled data generation with Prescient Metabiomics' customized analysis algorithms and machine learning," said CoreBiome CEO Dan Knights.

About Prescient Metabiomics
Prescient Metabiomics LLC, a privately held molecular diagnostics company and subsidiary of Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc, is an early stage molecular diagnostics company that is developing in-vitro diagnostics that leverage breakthroughs in next-generation DNA sequencing, computational systems biology, and human microbiome sciences. Prescient Metabiomics is a subsidiary of Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc. To learn more, visit www.prescientmedicine.com.

About CoreBiome
CoreBiome is a microbiome genomics company focused on accelerating microbiome discovery for customers in the pharmaceutical, agriculture, and research communities to unleash the translational potential of the microbiome. The company's proprietary BenchMark™, BoosterShot™, and Core Analysis™ platforms provide fast and information-rich characterizations of microbial diversity and function, paired with machine learning and expert analytics. CoreBiome is a wholly-owned subsidiary of OraSure Technologies, Inc. OSUR, which also owns DNA Genotek, a leading provider of sampling and stabilization kits, bringing together an end-to-end solution for robust microbiome discovery. For more information about CoreBiome, visit http://www.corebiome.com.

SOURCE Prescient Medicine; CoreBiome