Sapient’s Diagnostic Collaboration with Bay Area Lyme Foundation Featured in the Foundation’s Annual Impact Update Report

San Diego, CA—Sapient, a full-service bioanalytical organization transforming drug development through biomarker discovery, has been featured in the Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s 2021 Impact Update report for its collaboration with the Foundation aimed at establishing new diagnostics for persistent Lyme disease (PLD).

The report shares insight into the research being conducted by Sapient in leveraging Bay Area Lyme’s Lyme Disease Biobank to discover circulating biomarkers related to PLD, as well as circulating protective biomarkers related to lifestyle, diet, and environmental exposures. Initial analysis has led to the discovery of novel diagnostic biomarkers which may potentially be developed to screen individuals at risk for chronic, persistent Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne illness in the US. The current gold standard diagnostic for Lyme, a two-tiered ELISA/Western Blot blood test, misses up to 60% of early-stage cases, with many individuals going undiagnosed and untreated. Up to 30% of these patients ultimately develop PLD, with chronic, severe, and debilitating symptoms.

“Sapient’s efforts are truly exciting in their potential to arm the medical community with the ability to diagnose individuals struggling with the life-limiting symptoms of persistent Lyme disease and get them the care they need,” said Linda Giampa, Executive Director of Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “An accurate diagnostic will have big implications on improving quality of life for thousands of Lyme patients.”

“Our biomarker discovery platform enables high-throughput, untargeted profiling of tens of thousands of molecules in blood, providing an unprecedented view into the biomarker disruptions involved in Lyme disease,” said Mohit Jain, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO of Sapient. “The discoveries we’ve made so far are extremely compelling, not only for better disease diagnosis but also for understanding how protective biomarkers can be used in Lyme treatments. We’re excited to continue our partnership with Bay Area Lyme Foundation to translate these findings to the clinic.”

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About Sapient

Sapient is an end-to-end biomarker discovery partner for pharmaceutical and biotechnology sponsors. Its platform combines advanced mass spectrometry technologies – able to assay >11,000 molecules per biosample – computational learning, and an expansive proprietary Human Biology Database of >300,000 individuals to discover and validate circulating biomarkers at unprecedented speed and scale, and rapidly deliver actionable insights that align patients, disease biology, and specific therapies.

These methods reduce the time and complexity of biomarker discovery and validation at any phase, and drive greater understanding of biological processes, disease progression, and drug responsiveness to optimize drug pipelines and accelerate clinical development. For more information, visit sapient.bio.

About Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is the leading public charity sponsor of innovative Lyme disease research in the US. A 501c3 non-profit organization based in Silicon Valley, Bay Area Lyme Foundation collaborates with world-class scientists and institutions to accelerate medical breakthroughs for Lyme disease. It is also dedicated to providing reliable, fact-based information so that prevention and the importance of early treatment are common knowledge. The support of a few pivotal contributors, including a $5M operational overhead grant from The LaureL STEM Fund, and multi-year grants from the Fairbairn Family have been instrumental in providing support for large research projects and allowing for 100% of all donor contributions to Bay Area Lyme Foundation to go directly to research and prevention programs. For more information about Lyme disease or to get involved, visit bayarealyme.org or call 650-530-2439.

Media Contact:
Carla Nieser
Head of Marketing, Sapient
carla.nieser@sapient.bio
858.633.3497