Quarium is now seeking to make a blood test commercially viable that indicates the effectiveness of drug treatment in patients with schizophrenia
A common blood test, processed using the lipidomics technique, can help to early signal the response of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia to different antipsychotic treatments. The method resulted from a study developed at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) with support from the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (FAPESP)
The research, coordinated by the professor at Unicamp's Institute of Biology (IB), Daniel Martins de Souza, identified a set of biomarkers associated with improvement in symptoms in response to three atypical antipsychotics from the second generation of medicines for schizophrenia symptoms.
“The advantage of this technology is the simplicity of sample preparation and the speed of reading. The test results can be ready on the same day and serve as a parameter in prescribing the best treatment from the moment of diagnosis”, explains the researcher.
The results were protected from Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency. The new method was licensed in 2021 for Quarium, a spin-off from Unicamp. The company is now seeking to make the test commercially viable, which identifies the response to treatment with antipsychotics early, enabling a personalized and more accurate prognosis.
Schizophrenia is one of the most serious psychiatric disorders and affects approximately 24 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In Brazil, around 1,6 million people live with this chronic and disabling mental condition, with no known cure. Symptoms include delusions and hallucinations in critical periods, which can be controlled with medication. One of the difficulties faced by patients is adapting to therapy, which can take four to six weeks.
Scientific literature shows that approximately 40% of patients do not respond adequately to medication and around 60% abandon treatment due to side effects. As a result, their cognitive and mood-related functions may not improve, compromising recovery and removing individuals from social life.
“The response to medication is crucial from the moment of diagnosis, as patients who do not improve or do not tolerate the side effects of a given antipsychotic may have new psychotic episodes and experience irrecoverable cognitive decline as the disease progresses”, explains Licia da Silva Costa , founder of startup Quarium
How the method was developed
The method identifies the lipid profile, a kind of signature of fat molecules in blood plasma associated with the improvement of schizophrenia symptoms.
The research analyzed the blood of 54 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia who had never used medication. The samples were collected at the psychiatric clinic at the University of Magdeburg, Germany, and analyzed in collaboration with the company's innovation laboratories. Waters Technologies do Brasil.
Volunteers were treated with atypical antipsychotics (second generation): olanzapine, risperidone and quetiapine. Each patient took only one type of medication and new blood samples were collected six weeks after starting therapy.
"We analyzed lipids and realized that patients who respond well to different medications tend to process proteins better. Observed changes may highlight targets for developing new approaches or refining current medicines,” explains Souza.
New studies to validate the test
Currently, the diagnosis and prescription of medication for schizophrenia are made based on clinical analyzes and the experience of psychiatrists. The new method could allow personalized treatments, with a better choice of medication at the beginning of therapy. Among the results, an improvement in symptoms and a reduction in the time of weakness are expected, in addition to a reduction in the severity of the disease.
“The product we propose is non-existent on the market and could offer an innovative solution to psychiatrists and patients, allowing for more successful prescriptions and improved quality of life”, says the entrepreneur.
Most of the studies on biomarkers and molecular signatures in psychiatry focus on diagnosing the disorder and not on therapy, comments Costa. Psychiatrists contacted by the company pointed out the importance of establishing the specific side effects associated with the use of second-generation antipsychotics (such as metabolic syndrome), which, if not monitored, can lead to death.
Quarium's objective is to arrive at a commercially viable test, validating the research results with a larger number of patients, now Brazilians. To this end, it intends to formalize partnerships with health research institutions that serve patients with schizophrenia. In addition to lipidomic and clinical data, the startup plans to employ techniques machine learning and include, in this second phase of development, antipsychotics from other chemical classes. The establishment and optimization of the targeted analysis method for lipid markers of response received financing from the Fapesp Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (PIPE).
Inventors awarded in this licensing
Daniel Martins de Souza (IB-Unicamp), Adriano Aquino (IB-Unicamp), Johann Anton Christian Steiner (University of Magdeburg, Germany), Guilherme Lionello Alexandrino (IQ- Unicamp), Michael Murgu (Waters Technologies do Brasil Ltda), Alexandre Ferreira Gomes (Waters Technologies do Brasil Ltda) and Fábio Augusto (IQ-Unicamp) were awarded in the Licensed Intellectual Property category at the Inventores 2022 Awards.
ACADEMIC SPIN-OFF HONORED
Quarium is a company that has in its core of business a technology from Unicamp. The startup underwent pre-incubation at Incamp (Unicamp's Technology-Based Business Incubator) and is looking for solutions that help in the selection of medicines related to mental health, through omics technologies (a field of study that deals with large amounts of data, such as lipidomics) applied to precision medicine.
The award, organized by the Innovation Agency Inova Unicamp, is in its 15th edition and is sponsored by ClarkeModet, 3M and Neger Telecom
Check out all the winners and follow the series of reports on the website Unicamp Inventors Award.
