PrecisionLife wins funding for project to detect and treat endometriosis

PrecisionLife will develop and clinically validate a rapid and non-invasive precision medicine test to evaluate a patient’s risk of endometriosis and the mechanisms underpinning their disease. It will also enable testing of repurposing drug candidates already identified by PrecisionLife in targeted groups of at-risk patients.

Endometriosis is a debilitating and complex disease, which affects around 10 per cent (190 million) of reproductive age women and girls globally.

The PrecisionLife test will enable rapid differential triage of patients presenting with deep pelvic pain using a simple, non-invasive buccal swab. Its results will allow clinicians to quickly evaluate an individual’s lifetime risk of endometriosis and several other diseases with similar symptoms to enable accurate referral to the correct specialist. The same test will also uncover the underlying mechanisms causing their form of the disease to help identify and prescribe effective treatments.

Clinical validation of the test’s predictive accuracy and the efficacy of the repurposing drug candidates, will provide new treatment options for patients, a reimbursement route for the test, and enable the design of smaller, more targeted clinical trials to accelerate the approval of new drug treatments.

PrecisionLife CEO, Steve Gardner said: “We're delighted to accept this grant and thank the EIC for recognising the urgent need to provide better diagnostic tools and treatments for endometriosis. Project TRANSCEND will positively impact the lives of the 10 million women suffering from this massively debilitating and painful condition in Europe and many more beyond.

“By improving the speed and accuracy of diagnosis, we will significantly enhance patients' quality of life and reduce the physical and emotional burden of the disease, whilst saving health systems many thousands of dollars per patient.”