Molecular Stethoscope, Inc. announces new investment from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation
Investment by the ADDF will accelerate the translation of Molecular Stethoscope’s cf-mRNA liquid biopsy technology platform into products and services for the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Molecular Stethoscope, a leading precision medicine company pioneering the next-generation cell-free mRNA (cf-mRNA) liquid biopsy, announced today that it has received an investment from the Diagnostics Accelerator at the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). Building on its Alzheimer’s disease human proof-of-concept study (published in Science Advances), Molecular Stethoscope is now moving forward with the next phase of translational studies to develop clinical-grade products and services for the diagnosis and dynamic management of Alzheimer’s disease patients and assist biopharma in the development of new therapies. In addition to its financial investment, the ADDF’s expertise and network in the field of Alzheimer’s disease will fuel Molecular Stethoscope’s efforts in this area of neurology.
“We are very excited about the potential for our technology to contribute meaningfully to the struggle against Alzheimer’s disease, and this support from the ADDF will help fuel our development efforts,” said Gajus Worthington, Executive Chair of Molecular Stethoscope. Three critical challenges of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and prognosis are the heterogeneity of disease, the complexity of the underlying pathophysiology, and the lack of non-invasive tools for measuring brain function. Molecular Stethoscope’s platform encompassing whole transcriptome cf-mRNA coupled with AI/Machine learning analysis permits surveys of known and yet to be understood signatures of disease.
The ADDF’s Diagnostics Accelerator is a collaborative research initiative funded by leading philanthropists including ADDF Co-Founder Leonard A. Lauder, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, among others, to fast-track the development of affordable and accessible diagnostic tools and biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
“At the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, we have long believed accurate and accessible diagnostics are essential to driving research forward, allowing us to enroll the right patients in clinical trials and track their progress,” said Dr. Howard Fillit, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of the ADDF. “Blood based biomarkers, such as the platform being developed by Molecular Stethoscope, have shown promise in helping with early, non-invasive detection of the disease.”
Details of the investment were not disclosed.
Molecular Stethoscope is a Precision Medicine biotechnology company pioneering a Next-Generation cf-mRNA Liquid Biopsy AI/ML Technology Platform. The Company is focused on discovering, developing and commercializing non-invasive and dynamic products for the early detection, diagnosis and treatment-response monitoring of chronic diseases starting with the liver (NAFLD/NASH) and the central nervous system (Alzheimer’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis). Molecular Stethoscope was co-founded by Dr. Stephen Quake, Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University, and co-President of the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, and Dr. Eric Topol, Director and Founder, Scripps Research Translational Institute, and Chair of Innovative Medicine at Scripps. The Company’s proprietary Next-Generation cf-mRNA Liquid Biopsy Technology Platform integrates cell-free mRNA (cf-mRNA) with RNA-Seq, clinical information, and purpose-built bioinformatics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to generate clinically actionable, dynamic information to significantly improve the health of patients. The Company’s novel Technology Platform harnesses with unprecedented precision the dynamic biological processes underlying chronic diseases in biopsy-accessible (e.g., liver) and biopsy-inaccessible (e.g., brain) organ systems, thus enabling early, non-invasive, longitudinal and serial diagnosis and monitoring of diseases – while avoiding costly and invasive biopsies which can have adverse effects – to fundamentally change how healthcare is delivered at scale.
Founded in 1998 by Leonard A. and Ronald S. Lauder, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation is dedicated to rapidly accelerating the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s disease. The ADDF is the only public charity solely focused on funding the development of drugs for Alzheimer’s, employing a venture philanthropy model to support research in academia and the biotech industry. Through the generosity of its donors, the ADDF has awarded more than $209 million to fund over 690 Alzheimer’s drug discovery programs, biomarker programs and clinical trials in 19 countries. To learn more, please visit: http://www.alzdiscovery.org/.
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to statements about the Company’s expectations regarding its proprietary Technology Platform. Forward looking statements are subject to uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.
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