Improved diagnostic testing has revolutionized medicine.
Companies specializing in innovative diagnostics are likely not only to find financial success, but to improve the way health care is delivered to patients.
Metabolon, a diagnostic products and services company, is on the cutting edge of new technology that will make such testing faster, cheaper and less intrusive.
The company’s CSO, Michael Milburn, recently discussed Metabolon’s successes in advanced diagnostics as well as the company’s plans for the future.
The event was part of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative (IEI). The IEI hosts monthly lunch seminars featuring presentations from local business leaders.
Growth through innovation
Milburn talked about the development of advanced technology businesses in challenging times, something his company knows very well.
The company, headquartered in RTP, began initial funding in 2003 and now has approximately 140 employees.
They now have the “leading biochemical biomarker discovery and profiling platform,” said Milburn.
Metabolon has completed more than 1500 commercial studies since 2005. Many of these came during and after the recession that hit in 2008. By developing what Milburn referred to as a “very broad-based technology,” the company was able to protect itself against economic downturn.
The company found applying its analytic technology to pet food helped it avoid hardship. As Milburn explained, during tough economic times, families are more likely to take on pets, making business centered on pets very steady.
While this technology has driven the company’s growth, Milburn said he is most excited about the potential upside in his company’s diagnostics division. This division analyzes biomarkers in blood and urine sample to detect diseases.
Metabolon is able to use their innovative diagnostic software to comb through thousands of biochemicals. The software looks for biomarkers, which can be indicative of disease or other conditions.
The “transformational technology marries software, know-how and biochemical biomarker discovery,” said Milburn. The company is still building the platform, but Milburn said he expects big things to come from the technology.
The company’s analytic success was based in metabolomics, or the study of chemical processes involving metabolites, which regulate metabolism.
Combining metabolomics with genotyping “can produce a greater understanding of the genetic basis of specific phenotypes, but also blood markers than can be used to forecast and monitor,” said Milburn.
According to Milburn, biochemicals represent the link between genetic determinant and disease phenotypes. In other words, biochemicals may be the key to not only predicting and assessing disease, but also curing them.
Milburn said the technology can provide new biological insights into disease, therapy and drug toxicity.
Employees Are Company’s Most Valuable Resource
Metabolon recently participated in the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Industrial Fellowship program.
The program provides industry-oriented research experience to postdoctoral scientists interested in improving their competitiveness for high-level industry positions. NCBiotech funds the majority of the cost of salary and benefits for the trainees, while participating companies share some of the costs.
Meredith Brown, a post-doc from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completed her two-year fellowship in July and is now working at the company.
(C) NC Biotechnology Center
