Golden Helix has won an NIH SBIR phase 2 grant to advance pharmacogenomics software for personalised medicine.
Pharmacogenomics uses a person’s genes to guide drug choice and dose. Golden Helix will integrate pharmacogenetic analytics into next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflows used in clinical genetic testing.
The award, from the National Human Genome Research Institute, supports the project “Pharmacogenomics Workflow: Identifying Biomarkers and Treatment Options” (grant 2R44HG013456-02).
“We are extremely grateful for the long-standing support of the NIH for our research, spanning from CNV analysis to clinical interpretation, and now to pharmacogenomics. This latest grant is a testament to our commitment to bringing advanced research topics to the marketplace. With this generous funding, we will build a world-class enterprise platform for pharmacogenomics. We are also deeply appreciative of the support from leading organisations in the NGS industry, whose letters of support underscore the strategic importance of this research project,” said Dr Andreas Scherer, president and CEO of Golden Helix.”
NGS is a high-throughput method for reading DNA. CNV (copy number variation) analysis detects gains or losses of DNA segments that can affect how patients respond to medicines.
Golden Helix says the work will enhance its precision medicine tools to help clinicians identify actionable insights for individual treatment plans. Since 2017, the company reports receiving a total of US$7m from the NIH.
