Prescient Medicine and Erasmus MC Partner to Study Opioid Addiction Risk

CARLSBAD, Calif. and ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, December 10, 2019 – Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc. and the Department of Clinical Chemistry at Erasmus MC (CC-EMC), Rotterdam today announced a partnership for CC-EMC to study opioid addiction risk in The Netherlands. The partnership will center on Prescient Medicine’s novel genetic testing technology designed to objectively assess an individual’s risk of opioid addiction prior to opioid exposure. The clinical research will be conducted with patients in The Netherlands to confirm that the positive results from research completed in the United States are also found in the Dutch health care system.

According to a 2019 study, the overall number of prescription opioid users in The Netherlands has nearly doubled between 2008 and 2017, and the number of opioid-related hospital admissions has tripled.

“We have seen the devastation of opioid addiction in the United States, and we are worried that we are on a similar path in The Netherlands, given the increased rates of opioid use and addiction,” said Professor Ron HN Van Schaik, Ph.D., Erasmus MC. “Evaluating the potential of Prescient Medicine’s diagnostic technology is an important step in future efforts aimed to help address and minimize opioid addiction in The Netherlands. A test like this would give clinicians a tool to proactively determine the risk of opioid addiction for an individual before they are prescribed a medication. This will enable prescribers to make a choice about which drug would serve their patients’ needs best.”

The genetic panel leverages the power of machine learning to assess a patient’s genetic risk of opioid addiction. The test received Breakthrough Device designation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States in February 2018. The work done through this collaboration will be the first time the test has been researched outside of the United States.

“A test like this is valuable to anyone prescribing opioids, not just in the United States,” said Keri Donaldson, M.D., medical director and CEO of Prescient Medicine. “We are excited to expand the use of this test to The Netherlands and potentially help play a part in helping combat the opioid crisis that may be developing in The Netherlands and throughout the world.”

About Department of Clinical Chemistry, Erasmus MC

The Erasmus MC University Medical Center (Erasmus MC), an organization with 17,000 employees in 2019, is committed to a healthy population and excellence in healthcare through research and education. It excels in various research fields, studying fundamental and clinical domains as well as public health and prevention. Research at Erasmus MC is at the heart of society, resulting in innovation, quality improvement and more effectiveness in patient care. The overall research aim of Erasmus MC is to translate bench discoveries to bed-side applications. Bibliometric indicators place Erasmus MC in the top 20 of clinical medicine worldwide. In addition to scientific research, patient care and education are core tasks of Erasmus MC. The complete spectrum of medicine is offered, from disease to health and from individual to public healthcare. Erasmus MC is also the largest medical school in the Netherlands, with ~3,100 medical students and has approximately 250 PhD graduations per year. It offers BSc, MSc and PhD programs to train the next generation of medical practitioners and researchers. Its annual research budget amounts to €139.7 million. The impact of Erasmus MC on the Dutch economy is substantial: in 2012, it contributed €3.8 billion gross value added (GVA) to the Dutch economy and it indirectly supports 40,556 jobs.

The Department of Clinical Chemistry contains the International Federation for Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) Expert Center for Pharmacogenetics, led by Prof Ron HN van Schaik, investigating the translation of genetic information in guiding individualized drug therapy.

About SOLVD Health

SOLVD Health (formerly Prescient Medicine) is a privately held company focused on preventing disease by making contextual health information accessible to everyone. Through the development of insights-based health tools, we are enabling individuals and their providers to make better decisions about their health and the health of their families. We accomplish this by translating complex biological signals into actionable patient data that can point the way to better health. To learn more about us, our solutions, and our career opportunities, visit us at www.solvdhealth.com.

Media Contact:
Valerie Melucci; pr@solvdhealth.com