OutSee lands funding to harness predictive genomics in drug discovery

OutSee lands funding to harness predictive genomics in drug discovery

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Platform that predicts disease and phenotype directly from a single genome shows ‘great promise’ in chronic and age-related diseases.

British biotech OutSee has secured £1.8 million in seed funding to advance its predictive genomics platform and therapeutic pipeline. The Cambridge-based company is working on drug development programs targeting central nervous system and metabolic disorders, where the complexity of disease biology often limits the utility of traditional approaches.

At the heart of OutSee’s approach is Nomaly, a proprietary AI-based technology that predicts disease and phenotype directly from a single genome. The approach aims to drive a shift from retrospective data interrogation to proactive genomic exploration, offering a means to uncover fundamental disease drivers that remain invisible to other tools.

Instead of searching for known genetic associations, Nomaly uses a “hypothesis-free” method to infer insights from the underlying biology encoded in the genome. According to Outsee, this enables a form of predictive genomics that identifies the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for disease development, offering a deeper and earlier understanding of pathogenesis than conventional methods.

Dr Julian Gough is founder and CEO of OutSee.

From a longevity perspective, OutSee’s founder and CEO Dr Julian Gough told us that the company’s technology brings predictive biology to a field dominated by methods fundamentally based on correlation and association.

“This is going to unlock new disease insights across a number of areas, but has shown a great deal of early promise for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s through the identification of biologically compelling new drug targets,” he added. “OutSee has development projects funded by Innovate UK precision medicine grants with a focus on dementia.”

Gough said he expects more activity from the company in chronic and age-related diseases over the next two years.

“OutSee is seeking to work with foundations and investors to grow target discovery and validation activity in these areas internally, and for partners looking for new targets who can take these programs forward into therapeutic development,” he said.

Rather than depend on data from large patient cohorts, OutSee claims its technology performs effectively even with small datasets, which can help uncover biologically meaningful targets that might be overlooked by association-driven techniques. This includes the identification of multi-variant interactions and complex genetic interplays, allowing for more refined patient stratification and the advancement of precision medicine efforts.

The financing round was led by Ahren Innovation Capital, with participation from Kadmos Capital, Empirical Ventures and Panacea Ventures. The funding will be used to enhance its core capabilities, expand internal programs and support outreach to pharmaceutical and biotech firms interested in leveraging Nomaly for novel target identification.

 “OutSee’s genomics first approach goes far beyond existing technologies, enabling therapeutic developers to precisely comb their data in a way that has never before been possible,” said Ahren’s Dr Joanna Green. “Nomaly has great potential to unlock a deeper understanding of genomic data, discover new therapeutic targets and drive the development of next-generation treatments for the entire spectrum of human disease.”

Photographs courtesy of OutSee.

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