Psynova gets new investment after uncovering schizophrenia biomarkers

Investment

Psynova Neurotech Ltd, a spin-out from the Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research at Cambridge University, and its US partner Rules-Based Medicine (RBM) have announced the discovery and characterisation of a combination of protein biomarkers that they say could be useful in diagnosing schizophrenia  As a result of this clinical milestone, RBM has made additional investments in Psynova, and now has a controlling interest in the company. 

“While several psychiatric conditions share symptoms, the clinical interventions vary, making it important to establish an accurate diagnosis as early as possible,” said Sabine Bahn, co-founder, director, and chief scientific officer of Psynova Neurotech.  “We intend to develop a minimally invasive, objective test to aid the early diagnosis of schizophrenia and differentiation from bipolar disorder and major depression.”

The discovery of the biomarkers was made possible by combining the RBM platform with a carefully collected and controlled set of clinical samples.

The validation study is based on an analysis of more than 1,100 retrospective blood samples collected at multiple sites from patients subsequently confirmed to be suffering from schizophrenia (both drug-naïve and drug-treated patients), major depression, bipolar disorder, other central nervous system disorders, along with age-matched controls.  A scoring algorithm based on significant biomarkers was derived from samples collected at a single site.  The algorithm was then applied to blinded samples from the other sites and was able to distinguish schizophrenia from bipolar disorder, major depression and normal controls with high sensitivity and specificity.  Future studies will refine the test in additional patient cohorts.

The two companies have commenced additional clinical studies to evaluate performance and support the intended use as an aid to diagnosis. 

Each year as many as 2 million new patients in the EU and 1.3 million in the US are estimated to present with early signs of psychosis. While most of these patients do not have schizophrenia, the medical evaluation is time consuming and expensive, due to its subjective nature.  Symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, movement disorders, flat affect, social withdrawal, and cognitive deficits, are often undistinguishable from those of other mental health or central nervous system illnesses.

Available treatments can relieve many symptoms of schizophrenia and allow people to live independent lives, meaning there are significant benefits in being able to make an early diagnosis.