Barcelona, Spain.- ADmit Therapeutics, S.L.-, a medtech company leading the development of a breakthrough technology based on novel blood-based mitochondrial biomarkers, today announced that it has been selected to join StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot. ADmit Therapeutics is one of 14 companies initially selected that are advancing innovative solutions for Alzheimer’s to commercialization and scalability. It is a global community of founders and funders collaborating to prevent, diagnose, manage, and ultimately cure Alzheimer's disease. Moonshot is supported by Gates Ventures and Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to accelerate innovation around Alzheimer’s.
The collaboration will support the regulatory roadmap and commercialization of the MAP-AD Test.
“ADmit is honored to be part of this community that shares the same mission to tackle Alzheimer’s disease” said ADmit CEO Marta Barrachina. “ADmit has developed the MAP-AD Test, an epigenetic Next-Generation Sequencing approach for identifying differential mtDNA methylation patterns in blood samples from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients. The methylation measures, along with non-invasive clinical features, have been integrated into a classification model that predicts the probability of progression to Alzheimer’s Disease (ADD). It represents a useful tool for predicting ADD at MCI stage, optimizing patient stratification and in turn significantly improving AD clinical trials success rate”.
About StartUp Health
Since 2011, StartUp Health has been on a mission to solve the biggest health challenges of our time by creating and sustaining a global ecosystem of health moonshot communities. StartUp Health has provided support to more than 1,000 founders and contributed to the development of more than 500 health innovation companies. Our valued partners include The Helmsley Charitable Trust, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and Gates Ventures in addition to nearly 100 families and mission-aligned organizations. Visit https://www.startuphealth.com/startup-health-blog/startup-health-announces-first-companies-to-join-alzheimers-moonshot-community
About ADmit Therapeutics
ADmit Therapeutics is a medtech company leading the development of novel blood-based mitochondrial biomarkers to revolutionize the early detection of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The proof of concept was performed in human postmortem brains and it was published in the American Journal of Pathology (Blanch et al, 2016). The MAP-AD Test has been developed in a longitudinal prospective study analyzing blood samples from MCI patients collected at the baseline visit. The study shows a clinical follow up between 3 and 16 years. The performance of the MAP-AD Test will be presented in the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) and in the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’ Disease (CTAD’24) that will be held in Philadelphia (July 2024) and Madrid (October, 2024), respectively. The company is certified with the ISO13485, is seeking accreditation from the College of American Pathologists, and is preparing external clinical validations to obtain the FDA approval.
Our company has successfully passed the annual external audit, which demonstrates that the medical device quality management system and its effectiveness is adequately maintained. We are glad to share that, in our tireless effort to pursue the excellence in quality, the scope of our ISO13485:2016 certificate has been expanded to include the manufacturing of our products: Design and Development, Production of in-vitro diagnostic reagents for genetic testing for epigenetic changes. Design and Development, Production and Service of in-vitro diagnostic software for nucleic acid testing (NGS data analysis for Human mitochondrial DNA methylation patterns)
He holds more than 30 years of experience in the Life Science industry mainly in Diagnostics and Pharmaceutical. He has served as CEO, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategic Alliances and Business Development as well as Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Operations Officer in several companies such as VITRO Group, Werfen, LETI Pharma, DAKO (an Agilent Technologies company) where he has had global responsibility across the whole value chain mainly in headquarters, but also for EMEAI, Americas and Asia Pacific regions where he has been based. Ferran holds a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona, a Master in marketing management from EADA (Barcelona, Spain) and a Master in Digital Transformation from IESE (Barcelona Spain).
Our CEO participated in the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Investigators Day to promote awareness of ADmit’s technology based on novel blood-based biomarkers for the prognosis of AD. Moreover, two posters were presented during the AD/PD 2024 meeting in Lisbon (Poster Shift1 0299: Analytical validation of blood mitochondrial methylcytosines for the prognosis of AD dementia progression at MCI stage, and Poster Shift1 0487: Diagnosis of Dementia with Lewy Bodies based on a NGS analysis of blood mitochondrial methylcytosines: a machine learning approach) by Marta Blanch, our Head of Assay Development.
ADmit has secured a €5.4 million equity round with Clave Capital as the lead investor, with significant support from the EIC Fund and the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA), alongside other investors such as Lavanda Ventures, Ship2B and WA4Steam. This funding round will enable the company to obtain CE marking and FDA approval for the commercialization of MAP-AD in Europe and the United States.
MAP-AD, the technology, is based on an algorithm capable of stratifying Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients based on their probability of progressing to AD dementia (ADD) through the epigenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) methylation signatures in a patient's blood sample. The innovative approach of MAP-AD lies in these disruptive findings, a combination of patented biomarkers based on mtDNA methylation patterns and a novel algorithm to link the pattern with the clinical prognosis of ADD.
The use of MAP-AD technology by pharmaceutical companies to optimize patient selection has the potential to reduce the time and costs associated with clinical trials, increasing the likelihood of identifying new effective therapies for AD.
There is a clear need for individualized prognosis of MCI progression to ADD. Timely and accurate diagnosis of AD impacts the quality of life of patients and their families by allowing for timely and optimized treatment.
Marta Barrachina, CEO of ADmit, highlighted: "Our unique value proposition allows us to calculate the probability of a patient with MCI progressing to AD with just a blood sample and using state-of-the-art sequencing techniques. This enables clinicians to optimally stratify patients and prescribe the best treatment."
From Clave, "we highly value the results achieved to date, the diagnostic capability in very early stages of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and others, in a highly prevalent and growing market where innovative therapies are emerging," said Santiago Lozano, Director of Funds and Clave Innohealth f.c.r. Giacomo de Simone, a board member at Clave, particularly appreciates the scientific capabilities of the team led by Marta and the disruptive potential that this technology could have in the clinical field.
The investment represents a continuation of the Diagnostics Accelerator’s support for the clinical validation and regulatory approval of our breakthrough technology based on novel biomarkers related to mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is the circular chromosome found inside mitochondria, which are responsible for energy production within cells. DNA methylation, a chemical modification where a methyl group is added to the DNA, plays an important role in regulating gene expression. DNA methylation changes are associated with a number of diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. ADmit is developing a test using next-generation sequencing and a machine learning approach to measure methylation changes in mitochondrial DNA that can predict the progression to Alzheimer’s disease dementia from Mild Cognitive Impairment. Employing this technology for clinical trial screening and patient enrollment has the potential to reduce timelines and costs associated with clinical trials, boosting opportunities for the identification of new and effective drugs.
The Diagnostics Accelerator, created in July 2018, is a partnership of funders with commitments totaling $100 million to develop novel biomarkers for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. In the initiative's newly launched second phase, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), Eli Lilly & Company, Biogen and the Shanahan Family Foundation added their support to that of initial partners including ADDF Co-Founder Leonard A. Lauder, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott, the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, among others.
The Diagnostics Accelerator is dedicated to advancing the development of low cost, minimally invasive, scalable biomarkers and diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Through translational research awards and access to consulting support from industry experts, this program focuses on accelerating innovation in both academia and industry towards the development of novel peripheral and digital biomarkers for Alzheimer’s. To learn more about the initiative, visit the website at www.alzdiscovery.org/accelerator.
ADmit is pleased to announce that data of the AD classifier model will be presented for the first time by Dr. Marta Blanch at the 15th annual CTAD conference taking place the next November 29 - December 2 in San Francisco.
This event brings together portfolio members and partners to present their funded work and discuss the current state of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. Marta Blanch will present our diagnostic platform.
ADmit Therapeutics attends the BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of leaders in the biotech and life sciences industries the 13-16 June in San Diego (US). In addition, our project was selected for the Company Presentation section. The company was hosted by the European Pavilion as it was one of the 20 european SMEs selected by the EIC Overseas Trade Fairs Programme.
Marta Barrachina, CEO and Co-Founder of our company is a new member in the Scientific Review Board at the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). Founded in 1998, the ADDF is the only nonprofit dedicated solely to developing drugs and diagnostics for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, including frontotemporal, vascular, and Lewy body dementias.
https://www.alzdiscovery.org/about-addf/board-scientific
The International Foundation of Women Entrepreneurs (FIDEM) awards our CEO, Marta Barrachina with the FIDEM 2021 Innovation award. The ceremony was held in the CosmoCaixa of Barcelona.
Paula Ferrer is our first industrial PhD candidate co-financed by the "Dcotorados Industriales-2020" program from the MICINN
ADmit Therapeutics is a winner of the EIC Accelerator in its first application. It will receive up to €3.33M among grant and additional equity financing from EIC Fund. This support from the European Commission will allow the commercialization of the first early Alzheimer's diagnostic test in blood samples.
ADmit Therapeutics has received an investment of 497.652$ from the ADDF Diagnostics Accelerator for the development of its early Alzheimer’s disease diagnostic test in blood samples. The Diagnostics Accelerator is a research initiative that seeks to accelerate the development of affordable and accessible biomarkers to diagnose Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and advance the development of more targeted treatments.
ADmit Therapeutics is a spin-off from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), located in Barcelona, which has been granted by Spanish and European grants, and has received private investments from Ship2B, GENESIS Biomed, BStartup10 and other investors since its inception at the end of 2017.
An important grant from the CDTI (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) for our development plan along 2020.
This grant will allow us to get access to Scandinavian Biobanks
Congratulations to our postdoc Marta Blanch!
We present our project in the DemoDay in La Salle Technova, where Ship2B impulse with big corporates.
ADmit Therapeutics selected in the MedTeX programme organized by Barcelona Scientific Park.
ADmit Therapeutics is one of five start ups selected to participate in the Lab4Health in the social impact accelerator Ship2B.
ADmit Therapeutics has been created, acquiring a license agreement with IDIBELL and University of Barcelona to develop a test for an early AD detection.