Amsterdam UMC and AlphaBiomics initiate collaboration to validate biologics treatment response predictor RxSelexTM in patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease

This collaboration is part of 2-year UK government-funded project to bring RxSelex^TM closer to patients

Amsterdam UMC and AlphaBiomics Ltd., a United Kingdom (UK)-based precision medicine company, have initiated a collaboration to personalize care in patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

IBD patient response to biologics therapy is highly variable, with some patients receiving long-term benefits, while others respond temporarily or not at all. At the same time, biologics therapy can be accompanied by significant side-effects. To predict which IBD patients will benefit from biologics therapy, AlphaBiomics has developed a non-invasive, stool microbiome-based diagnostic test (RxSelex^TM).

To validate RxSelex^TM, AlphaBiomics will collaborate with Professor Geert D’Haens and his team at the Amsterdam UMC Department of Gastroenterology who are world-renowned experts in the care of IBD patients and the rigorous evaluation of the efficacy and safety of IBD therapies.

IBD patients at Amsterdam UMC recruited to the study will be asked to collect a stool sample prior to starting biologics therapy and their therapy response will be carefully recorded over a period of 6 months. Individual patient response as predicted by RxSelex^TM from stool samples will be compared against the actual outcomes.

This 2-year project is funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The project aims to carry out crucial steps needed to bring RxSelex^TM to physicians and patients, such as the final development of the laboratory tests and computer programs, alignment with patient wishes and implementation in and adoption by healthcare systems.