A late-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to metabolic and chronic liver diseases is developing an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test for NASH at-risk patients. The test integrates four independent biomarkers – miR-34a-5p, A2M, YKL-40, and HbA1c. The output is a 0-10 score with threshold values, identifying patients with low risk or high risk of developing NASH.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the physiological stability of these biomarkers between the fed and fasting state in patients with the target condition (NAFLD) over a 30-day period.

Discover how our team of experts helped this biopharmaceutical company to reach its goals

Cerba Research is the Belgian division of the French Group Cerba Healthcare. The company facilitates clinical studies and lab tests, and supports the entire logistics chain. What are the developments in this market and what does the future bring?

Cerba Research may not be known to the general public, but the company does have reputable pharmaceutical companies as customers. Why do they join forces with Cerba Research, and which added value can the organization in Ghent offer? Pharmaceutical companies may have testing capabilities, but the entire logistics process that surrounds it is our specialty. For example, how can you distribute sample kits quickly, efficiently and without issues? That’s what we are perfectly suited to do. We gather all the materials needed to collect samples and deliver them neatly in kits. We also process and prepare all the patient data paperwork. Once all the data has been received, we order lab tests, in our own labs or through partners. The results are then made available to the client via PDF’s and our electronic portal.

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The new big data application is reshaping clinical trials. Someone on the shopfloor spots an improvement or better way of doing things that snowballs into a business; it’s a familiar approach to innovation and entrepreneurship. Indeed, many big technology firms deliberately encourage this behaviour.

But it’s less common for a practising doctor to create a successful technology solution. But let that be the story of Adrien Ko, who hit the idea for his data-driven patient recruitment start-up while he was supervising a lab for Cerba Healthcare in France.