SomaLogic Announces Strategic Collaboration With UPMC to Tailor Clinical Care Through Proteomics Technology

SomaLogic recently announced a strategic collaboration with leading health system UPMC to explore how the large-scale study of proteins and their functions in the body can effectively be used in clinical care.

“As part of our commitment to investing in translational science that significantly improves the lives of patients, we are evaluating whether a proteomics approach can help clinicians identify patients at the highest risk for major health events, like heart attack or stroke. That will allow us to better target interventions and care,” said Suresh Mulukutla, MD, an interventional cardiologist at UPMC and Director of Analytics for the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute.

As part of the agreement, UPMC and SomaLogic will establish a collaboration to promote the use of proteomic data in building healthier communities, improving patient care and reducing healthcare costs. The collaboration will include clinical research and development projects that establish the groundwork for use of proteomics as part of the larger vision for modern healthcare. The work planned at UPMC and insights gained may enable providers to make decisions based on an individual’s unique proteomic signature, reflecting certain indicators used for determining their real-time health status and disease risk.

“Working with UPMC, a leading innovator in healthcare, allows us to evaluate together the value of proteomics as a tool for precision medicine and a means for clinicians in the future to more accurately assess risk and tailor care for their patients,” said SomaLogic Chief Executive Officer Roy Smythe, MD.

“UPMC is committed to supporting innovative healthcare technologies with the goal of providing life-changing medicine to our patients and communities,” said Matthias Kleinz, Senior Vice President and Head of Translational Sciences at UPMC Enterprises. “With SomaLogic, we will explore the impact of its proteomics technology on optimizing therapy selection and resource allocation across a large integrated health system like UPMC.”

The agreement with UPMC is part of SomaLogic’s SomaSignal Proteomics for Precision Medicine Initiative, the first large-scale, clinically focused partnership effort aimed at equipping healthcare providers with the power of proteomic technology to inform decisions at the point of care. SomaLogic can run approximately 7,000 protein measurements on a single 55-microliter plasma or serum sample. The company has run more than 450,000 samples to date.

A $23-billion health care provider and insurer, Pittsburgh-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable care. The largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates 92,000 employees, 40 hospitals, 800 doctors’ offices and outpatient sites, and a more than 4 million-member Insurance Services Division, the largest medical insurer in western Pennsylvania. In the most recent fiscal year, UPMC contributed $1.7 billion in benefits to its communities, including more care to the region’s most vulnerable citizens than any other health care institution, and paid more than $900 million in federal, state and local taxes. Working in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, UPMC shares its clinical, managerial and technological skills worldwide through its innovation and commercialization arm, UPMC Enterprises, and through UPMC International. U.S. News consistently ranks UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside among the nation’s best hospitals in many specialties and ranks UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on its Honor Roll of America’s Best Children’s Hospitals. For more information, go to UPMC.com.

SomaLogic (Nasdaq: SLGC) seeks to deliver precise, meaningful, and actionable health-management information that empowers individuals worldwide to continuously optimize their personal health and wellness throughout their lives. This essential information, to be provided through a global network of partners and users, is derived from SomaLogic’s personalized measurement of important changes in an individual’s proteins over time. For more information, visit www.somalogic.com.

SomaSignal tests are developed and their performance characteristics determined by SomaLogic, Inc. SomaLogic operates a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certified, and College of American Pathologists (CAP) accredited laboratory.