Media & Press
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Leading Obesity Researcher Presenting Groundbreaking New Obesity Research at the Digestive Disease Week 2023 Annual Meeting
Phenomix Sciences co-founder Dr. Andres Acosta spearheads team of researchers sharing new data and findings surrounding obesity phenotyping at major industry conference
Menlo Park, Calif., April 28, 2023 -- Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a precision medicine biotechnology company that brings data intelligence to the treatment of obesity, is attending and presenting research at the DDW 2023 annual meeting taking place in Chicago, Ill. from May 6-8. Andres Acosta, MD, Ph.D, Director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Program at Mayo Clinic, as well as co-founder of Phenomix Sciences, is presenting his findings on phenotype-tailored lifestyle interventions for weight loss and nutrition.
Learn more about the obesity precision medicine sessions here.
Phenomix Sciences Launches First-of-its-Kind Test to Predict Obesity Phenotype Resulting in Precision Medicine Treatment Options
Saliva test, Hungry Gut™, will assist in provider recommendations with positive results pointing to diet, GLP-1 medication and/or intragastric balloons.
Menlo Park, Calif., March 30, 2023 -- With forecasts predicting that obesity drug sales will quadruple in the next five years to $11B annually, it is crucial for providers to know which patients will react positively to GLP-1 medications before prescribing them. Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a precision medicine biotechnology company that brings data intelligence to the treatment of obesity, announces today the launch of its first therapy selection test, the My Phenome Hungry Gut test. This is a first-of-its-kind obesity test and will determine if a patient’s phenotype is Hungry Gut (Satiety), or feeling hungry shortly after eating a meal. If a patient is Hungry Gut phenotyped, providers are able to more precisely and accurately make a treatment plan which would include a diet intervention specific to Hungry Gut, GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide) medications, and intragastric balloons.
Read the full release here.
New Study Demonstrates the Effectiveness of a Phenotype-Tailored Lifestyle Intervention on Weight Loss
Study published in The Lancet found phenotype-tailored lifestyle interventions can produce twice as much weight loss as standard lifestyle interventions.
Menlo Park, Calif. -- March 28, 2023 -- Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a precision biotechnology company on the mission to overcome obesity, today announced the results of a new study titled “Phenotype Tailored Lifestyle Intervention on Weight Loss and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Adults with Obesity: Preliminary Proof of Concept Study,” published online by The Lancet. The study was funded by the Mayo Clinic and co-authored by the Phenomix co-founders, Andres Acosta, M.D., Ph.D. and Michael Camilleri, M.D., and is the first to prove that when a diet is based on a patient’s individual physiology the patients lose twice as much weight with a phenotype tailored diet. The study compared the effect of a standard lifestyle intervention to a phenotype-tailored lifestyle intervention on weight loss, cardiometabolic risk factors and physiologic variables contributing to obesity pathophysiology, and the findings are significant. Phenomix has licensed the rights to the data and related technology generated in the study from Mayo Clinic.
Read the full release here.
Tackling obesity through the lens of precision medicine
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Obesity is currently classed as one disease but has recently been divided into four subtypes.
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By using phenotyping to identify the obesity subtype a patient has, treatments can be personalised for patients, increasing treatment adherence, effectiveness, and outcomes.
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Evidence has been published to show that treatments based on a patient’s specific phenotype result in better patient outcomes than treatments solely suggested by physicians.
Read the full article here.
Precision Phenotyping for Obesity Pharmacotherapy
December 28, 2022
By: Anjaili A. Sarkar, PhD.
Obesity was designated a disease by the American Medical Association in 2013. This has begun to dissolve the misconceptions surrounding the chronic, multifactorial disease. In addition to establishing clear phenotypes, phenotype-genotype correlations, and molecular mechanisms, it is also important to recognize the role of genotypic and phenotypic diversity in the various manifestations of obesity.
Phenotype-driven precision medicine holds the potential to change the future of obesity treatment through better-informed clinical decisions, determining coverage, and effectively combining diagnostic testing with drug therapy.
Read the whole article here.
Phenomix Sciences Partners with Gene Sequencing Lab, Kailos Genetics, to Process New Obesity Phenotyping Tests
February 14, 2023
Menlo Park, CA and Hunstville, AL --- February 14, 2023 --Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a precision obesity biotechnology company, announced today its partnership with Kailos Genetics, a CLIA/CAP accredited clinical laboratory specializing in gene sequencing, to process Phenomix's obeisty patient's phenotyping tests, which will launch later this quarter.
Phenomix is working to conquer obesity through precision medicine and the sicnece of tailoring interventions such as diets, drugs, surgical techniques to each person based on their individual obesity profiles or phenotypes. The company's first therapy selection test, the Hungry GutTM test will predict patient response to GLP-1 treatments, such as WegovyC and OzempicC (semaglutide). The Hungry GutTM test uses a variety of inputs including genetic information obtained from an easily obtained saliva sample.
Read the rest of the press release here.
Phenotype-tailored diets‘ set patients up for success’ in weight loss, health outcomes
November 30, 2022
Andres Acosta, MD, PhD.
It has long been said that the best way to treat obesity is to eat a healthy, reduced-calorie diet and exercise regularly.
This method of intervention paints patients with a broad brush and overlooks their unique phenotype for weight loss, contributing to variability in treatment outcomes. Phenotyping classifies a patient’s specific type of obesity based on biological mechanisms. By understanding a phenotype, a physician can identify what is driving a patient’s weight gain and limiting their ability to lose weight.
Read the rest of the story here.
How to Build an Obesity Phenotype Step-by-Step, with Andres Acosta, MD, PhD
Obesity phenotyping uses a battery of validated tests and procedures to determine the root cause of a patient's disease and then match treatment accordingly.
Obesity phenotyping currently requires about 10 hours and a battery of validated tests to evaluate an individual's energy expenditure, body composition, rate of gastric emptying, satiety/satiation, psychological profile, and values for other biologic and physiologic measures.
Listen to the interview here.
Obesity Phenotypes Explain What Drives the Disease and How to Target Intervention: Expert Interview
Wide variation in response to current treatments for obesity suggest that the disease is really several diseases, with distinct phenotypes unlikely to respond the same way to the same intervention.
Andres Acosta, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic describe 4 biological/behavioral obesity phenotypes based on validated measures of body composition, resting energy expenditure, satiety, satiation, affect, and physical activity:
- Hungry brain — mainly controlled by the brain-gut axis, and abnormal calories needed to reach satiety.
- Emotional hunger — desire to eat to cope with positive or negative emotions.
- Hungry gut — abnormal duration of fullness.
- Slow burn — decreased metabolic rate.
Listen to the interview here.
Andres Acosta, MD, Discusses the Challenge of Heterogeneity in Response to Obesity Treatment
"When we have one-third of patients who are not responding to obesity treatments, including bariatric surgery, we have to ask ourselves if the way we are currently managing obesity is appropriate."
In an interview with Patient Care, Andres Acosta, MD, whose widely recognized research focuses on precision medicine in management of obesity, says that given the extensive body of knowledge about the pathophysiology of obesity and wide range of interventions avaialable to address the ubiquitous disease, the era of the trial and error approach to treatment selection should be coming to a close. Listen to the Interview here.
Lifestyle Interventions Based on Obesity Phenotypes Significantly More Effective vs Standard Methods, Study Shows
Differences in individual response to the wide range of available obesity interventions can be better understood--and predicted--when the disease of obesity is itself understood as comprised of phenotypes, according to Andres Acosta, MD, PhD, a gastroenterologist and obesity expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Listen to the interview here.
Phenotype-tailored lifestyle approach leads to greater weight loss vs. standard approaches
Healio Gastroenterology | Erin T. Welsh, MA
SAN DIEGO — A multidisciplinary phenotype-tailored lifestyle intervention resulted in greater weight loss among adults with obesity compared with standard weight-loss interventions, according to a study presented at ObesityWeek.
Lizeth Cifuentes, MD, former research fellow in the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and first-year postgraduate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues conducted a 12-week clinical trial of 165 adults with a BMI more than 30 kg/m2. Researchers measured satiation by calories to fullness, postprandial satiety by gastric emptying, emotional eating behavior through questionnaires and resting energy expenditure at both baseline and after the 12-week intervention period. Continue reading...
Phenomix Sciences uses precision medicine platform to predict obesity treatment outcomes
Healio Gastroenterology | Kate Young
October 30, 2022
Phenomix Sciences has launched their Phenomix Sciences Obesity Platform, a set of data and tools that personalize obesity treatments.
“The Platform was developed with a goal to combat obesity with data-driven medicine,” Mark Bagnall, CEO of Phenomix, told Healio. “Obesity isn’t one disease, but many, and at least four can be determined by phenotyping. In fact, the four phenotype categories account for 90% of obese patients. Phenomix is the first to bring a solution to market based on the science of phenotyping.” Continue reading....
Bringing Precision Medicine to the Treatment of Obesity
Obesity rates in the United States have doubled in the past 20 years and without changes, nearly half of the adult population will be obese by 2030. Though there are many approaches to weight loss—diet and exercise, drugs, surgery—their safety and efficacy varies widely from patient to patient.
Phenomix Sciences is using phenotyping to understand the type of obesity each individual has to tailor treatments that address it specifically. Based on work at the Mayo Clinic, Phenomix breaks obesity into four different subtypes. We spoke to Mark Bagnall, CEO of Phenomix, about the company’s efforts to bring precision medicine to the treatment of obesity, the testing it performs, and the science underlying its approach. Listen to the full podcast here.
Phenomix Sciences Tackles Variability in Obesity Treatment Outcomes with Industry’s First Precision Medicine Platform
Hires industry veterans to build and deploy platform to launch first therapy selection test that predicts treatment response
Menlo Park, CA and St. Paul, MN. -- October 5, 2022 -- Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a precision obesity biotechnology company, announced today the Phenomix Sciences Obesity Platform, the first robust set of data and tools aimed at personalizing treatments for obesity patients. Obesity medicine, as it is practiced today, consists of trying various medical interventions for a significant amount of time until one elicits a response in the patient. Phenomix seeks to tackle the well-documented but poorly understood variability in responses to treatments by leveraging clinical data and advanced analytics to unlock precision medicine for this multifaceted disease.
MAYO CLINIC JOINS OBESITY BIOBANKING REGISTRY, STUDY
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Obesity affects roughly 42 percent of the American population, is a precursor to a wide range of chronic conditions and accounts for roughly $480 billion in healthcare spending each year.
- The Mayo Clinic and Phenomix Sciences are partnering on a biobanking registry aimed at collecting data from patients dealing with obesity and a national study to monitor phenotypes in patients undergoing treatments for obesity.
- Continue reading...
VIDEO: Brain-gut communication and its role in food intake, obesity epidemic
By Kate Burba in Healio Gasterenterology
June 4, 2022
SAN DIEGO — In a Healio video exclusive, Andres Acosta, MD, PhD, outlines research presented at Digestive Disease Week 2022 that focused on the relationship between gastric function and the regulation of food intake.
“Our research mainly focuses on understanding how the gut communicates with the brain to regulate food intake. This is extremely important because we are suffering an obesity epidemic,” Acosta, assistant professor of medicine and consultant in gastroenterology and hepatology at Mayo Clinic, said. “We're super excited to explain how our gut communicates with the brain, regulates food intake and plays a major role in obesity and in the pathophysiology of a disease that is really affecting our epidemic.” Watch here...
Phenomix Launches The First Obesity Biobank Registry To Study Underling Phenotypes
by Joy Lin in Gene Online
May 26, 2022
On a mission to conquer obesity, Phenomix Sciences has launched its first obesity biobanking registry and outcomes study. The registry will study variability in obesity by looking at genetic and environmental factors in patients, and analyze interventions that will give maximum benefit to the individual patient. Continue reading...
Phenomix Sciences Announces First Precision Obesity Biobanking Registry and Outcomes Study
May 25, 2022
Mayo Clinic first to enroll in registry with study of 2,000 patients being treated for obesity
ST. PAUL, Minn., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a precision obesity biotechnology company, announces today the launch of its biobanking registry and outcomes study. The registry will evaluate variability in obesity treatment response by collecting patients' DNA, metabolomics, hormones, and behavioral assessments, in relation to treatment outcomes. Continue Reading...
Phenomix Sciences Signs Exclusive Technology Licensing Deal With Mayo Clinic for Obesity Phenotype Blood Test
May 4, 2021
ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Biomedical startup company Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix) has signed an exclusive technology licensing agreement with Mayo Clinic for a novel blood test that accurately predicts obesity phenotypes. The multi-level “omics” MyPhenome™ test leverages technology developed at Mayo Clinic to analyze genomics, metabolomics and hormone levels. Its AI-driven algorithmic solution identifies four specific obesity phenotypes to give doctors the ability to prescribe more precise anti-obesity treatments. With the finalization of the CLIA lab underway, Phenomix anticipates launching the MyPhenome™ test before the end of 2021. Continue Reading...
PHENOMIX AND MAYO CLINIC DETERMINE OBESITY RISK THROUGH PHENOTYPES
July 1, 2021
Using one patient blood sample, the MyPhenome test developed by Mayo Clinic employs an artificial intelligence-based algorithm to analyze a patient’s DNA as well as metabolomic and hormone markers related to obesity. The companies expect it to help clinicians provide earlier diagnosis and better anti-obesity treatment options, including drugs, devices, or surgeries, by analyzing the phenotypes identified from the test. Continue Reading...
Phenomix Sciences taps Mayo Clinic tech for AI-powered obesity diagnostic
May 5, 2021
In a
shift from traditional thinking that lumps together all cases of obesity, researchers are increasingly proving that a combination of genetic and environmental factors have resulted in several distinct forms of the condition, each requiring a different treatment. Continue Reading...
Phenomix, Mayo Clinic Ink Licensing Deal for Obesity Phenotype Blood Test
May 4, 2021
NEW YORK – Biomedical startup company Phenomix Sciences said on Tuesday that it has signed an exclusive technology licensing agreement with the Mayo Clinic for a blood test to predict obesity phenotypes. Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed. The multiomics MyPhenome test uses technology developed at the Mayo Clinic to analyze a person's genomic, metabolomic, and hormone profile, and uses artificial intelligence-driven algorithms to identify which one of four specific obesity phenotypes the person fits: Hungry Brain, a defect of satiation; Hungry Gut, a defect of satiety; Emotional Hunger, emotional reward from eating; or Slow Burn, a defect in energy expenditure. Continue Reading...
Q&A: How new blood testing could help doctors better treat obesity
May 3, 2021
Phenomix Sciences was founded by National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded obesity experts and Mayo Clinic physician-scientists Andres Acosta, MD, PhD, and Michael Camilleri, MD, in Rochester, Minnesota, in 2017. Health2047, the wholly-owned innovation subsidiary of the AMA created to overcome systemic dysfunction in the U.S. health care, recently launched the company. Continue Reading...
Novel obesity classifications can aid in tailoring weight-loss treatments
April 28, 2021
Phenotype-guided obesity interventions, determined by a blood test, can double weight loss for patients compared with standard obesity care, according to a presenter at the Obesity Medicine Association 2021 virtual conference.
Health2047 Spins Out Obesity Testing Company Phenomix Sciences
March 22, 2021
MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Health2047 Inc., the Silicon Valley-based innovation subsidiary of the American Medical Association (AMA), today announced the spin out of Phenomix Sciences (Phenomix), a phenotype testing company whose AI-derived test analyzes genomics, metabolomics and hormone levels to deliver a new personalized measure for obesity that enhances treatment outcomes. Phenomix provides a solution that identifies four specific obesity phenotypes; the company’s MyPhenomeTM test gives doctors the ability to prescribe individualized anti-obesity therapies that are more effective. Continue Reading...
AMA unit Health2047 spins out obesity testing startup to accelerate personalized medicine
April 1, 2021
