Predicta

Precision medicine is revolutionizing oncology, with targeted therapies that improve and extend cancer patients’ lives. But precision diagnostics have fallen behind. In their clinical practices at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, physician-scientists Dr. Irene Ghobrial and Dr. Kenneth Anderson saw firsthand this gap between the state-of-the-art immunotherapies increasingly at their disposal, and the archaic diagnostic processes available to help them in their treatment decisions. “Most of the drugs we use are targeted therapies,” says Dr. Ghobrial, “but we often don’t know which patients will or will not respond.” And for blood cancers, like multiple myeloma, even those limited tests require a bone marrow biopsy—a painful surgical procedure, which often yields limited clinical value.

Predicta Biosciences, a precision oncology startup, has developed an innovative diagnostics platform that uses multiomic data to enable diagnosis, guide precision treatment, and unlock novel therapies. Its proprietary laboratory workflow is highly efficient at isolating circulating tumor cells from blood samples alone, while still allowing for whole-genome DNA and single-cell RNA sequencing of even early stage cancers. For patients, that means a blood draw rather than a painful bone marrow biopsy. For clinicians, Predicta offers unique access to an unprecedented level of data that can guide treatment. “We’re able to identify each patient’s individual multiomic profile, to help doctors choose the precision therapies most likely to work,” says Kate Caves, CEO. “For cancers like multiple myeloma—that don’t have a cure—this information can help spare patients ineffective and toxic interventions, and improve and extend their quality of life.”

Predicta’s initial diagnostic products combine DNA, RNA and immune system analysis—all from a blood draw—to provide the broadest possible data for clinicians to understand how each individual patient will respond to treatment. “Our tests equip physicians with a critical ability,” says Dr. Anderson, clinical co-founder. “We can empower physicians with detailed information about their patients' unique molecular data.” In the clinic, that presents the possibility of bypassing first-line toxic chemotherapies, in favor of advanced immunotherapies like CAR T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies. The use of blood rather than bone marrow biopsy lowers the barrier to sophisticated diagnostics, increasing the likelihood of early detection, and offering new clinical strategies over the course of disease. “Not only do we take away the invasive, painful element, but we're enabling increased monitoring and access,” adds Dr. Ghobrial, clinical co-founder.

As Predicta’s one-of-a-kind database of multiomic patient data expands, it becomes the foundation for drug discovery. After collecting serial timepoints pre- and post-treatment, of both malignant and non-malignant cells, Predicta then uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to characterize the differences, with the aim of identifying drug targets and immune signatures. “This degree of diagnostic data is essential for fueling discovery,” says co-founder Gad Getz, Director of Cancer Genome Computational Analysis and Institute Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the Director of Bioinformatics at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Our database is constantly growing—bringing us closer to our goal of one day curing the patients we diagnose.”