Rochester, Minn., and Waltham, Mass. — Mayo Clinic and Thermo Fisher Scientific have launched Precure, LLC, a new venture aimed at identifying biological changes that occur before symptoms of disease appear.
The initiative will combine proteomic, genomic and longitudinal clinical data to build a large biomedical dataset intended to support research into early disease detection, diagnostics and drug development.
Precure plans to generate molecular data from one million biospecimens and link the results with clinical information collected over several years. The effort will integrate genomic and proteomic data with Mayo Clinic’s clinical expertise and de-identified patient information.
The partners said artificial intelligence and large-scale data analytics will be used to identify patterns that could help researchers better understand how diseases develop before clinical symptoms emerge.
“At Mayo Clinic, we are committed to transforming patient care through innovation,” said Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Mayo Clinic. “By harnessing the full potential of multi-omics data, Precure, LLC aims to help us better understand disease before symptoms appear, accelerating discoveries that can lead to earlier diagnoses, more targeted treatments and better outcomes for patients.”
The project is expected to support research across areas including cancer, cardiometabolic disease, neurological disorders and immune-mediated diseases.
Mayo Clinic will be the majority owner of Precure, while Thermo Fisher Scientific will hold a minority stake.
Thermo Fisher will contribute proteomics technologies including its Olink™ Explore HT platform and Thermo Scientific Orbitrap mass spectrometry systems, as well as related kits and reagents.
“Precure LLC has the potential to create a step change in how we generate and apply multi-omics data to improve human health,” said Marc Casper, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific. “By combining Thermo Fisher’s leadership in scientific technology with Mayo Clinic’s leadership in clinical care, research and innovation, we can create new opportunities at unprecedented scale to detect disease earlier, accelerate drug development and enable more precise therapies.”
Precure, LLC will operate alongside Precure Research, Mayo Clinic’s investigator-led effort focused on understanding biological changes as people move from health toward disease.
Mayo Clinic said any financial returns from the venture will be reinvested in its nonprofit missions of patient care, research and education.
