FRANCE – Viome Life Sciences, a mission-driven systems biology company focusing on improving individual’s health, has announced the extension of its two-year partnership with GSK, a science-led global healthcare company, to expand clinical research activities and potential development of new therapeutic interventions in the fields of chronic diseases such as autoimmune diseases and cancers.
This expansion builds on a previously announced collaboration to investigate the prevention of specific chronic diseases, utilizing Viome’s proprietary microbiome analysis and artificial intelligence platforms, as well as GSK’s immunology expertise.
“We are excited to expand our collaboration with GSK to develop preventative and therapeutic measures for chronic diseases and cancers.”
Viome’s technology applies artificial intelligence to complex biological data to provide personalized nutrition and lifestyle recommendations for healthy living.
The Seattle-based firm employs advanced Metatranscriptonomic Sequencing Technology to provide information about gut health.
The technology identifies bacteria, viruses, yeast, and other microbes in the gut microbiome using a stool sample.
Viome examines all of the strains and species of microorganisms in the gut and determines their level of activity.
Viome then runs the data through an advanced AI algorithm called VIE, which uses an extensive database to generate personalized nutrition recommendations to balance the gut microbiome and the ecosystem.
Using a clinical validation tool, the deal hopes to identify microbes and their mechanisms that contribute to chronic diseases by combining these insights with GSK’s immunology expertise.
The confirmation of links between the gut microbiome and chronic diseases could pave the way for the development of new tests to identify individuals who are best suited for novel precision vaccine therapies.
Unearthing cancer causes
“Most chronic disorders are treated with drugs targeting symptoms and not causes. Viome’s unique mRNA technology and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence platform have the potential to find the root causes of specific chronic disorders and cancers.” said Viome CEO and Founder, Naveen Jain
“With that critical information and the unique expertise of GSK, we aspire to one day cure these diseases and not just manage the symptoms. We are excited to expand our collaboration with GSK to develop preventative and therapeutic measures for chronic diseases and cancers,” he added.
Rino Rappuoli, Head of R&D Vaccines, GSK said: “A better understanding of the interactions between the immune system and microbiome – which have been shown to have a significant impact on human health – has been part of GSK’s innovation strategy.”
“By combining our robust expertise in immunology with Viome’s unique technology with its proprietary mRNA analysis and artificial intelligence platform, we look forward to uncovering additional key insights into chronic diseases.”
In other related news, Eligo announced a research and option agreement with GlaxoSmithKline to advance Eligobiotics for the treatment or prevention of acne vulgaris with a groundbreaking CRISPR-based therapeutic for strain-specific microbiome modulation.
Eligo was set to receive an upfront payment and R&D funding under the terms of the agreement to advance EB005, its acne discovery program, until preclinical proof of concept.
If GSK exercises its option, GSK and Eligo will enter into a license and collaboration agreement to co-develop EB005 in acne.
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